A Very Different Anzac Day.

Usually it's all marching bands, parades and lots of people.  Today was very different.

At 5.55 am, I put my flags outside, got my candle and was ready in time for The Last Post, the minutes silence, then the singing of the NZ anthem, followed by the Aussie anthem.

It was all very moving, with my neighbours standing on their driveways, all with candles, while the service from Canberra played on a radio.

We could also hear The Last Post being played on other streets.  It always gives me goosebumps, and makes me want to cry.

After it was over, I left my candle on the front lawn and went for a walk.  There were quite a few people about in other streets, doing the same thing.  Talking to each other, from a distance.

The morning was beautiful, a perfect sunrise.

There was a concern that Anzac Day would be ignored as there were no big parades.  I think the country has proved them wrong.

We don't need big parades to remember the sacrifice of our Anzacs.

I think I preferred our Anzac Day the way it was today.  And hopefully it will become a new tradition.

My blip is of a chalk poppy, one of a whole line of poppies drawn in the grounds of the local Catholic School.