Blog Day 34: Sunday 26 April 2020

Can you believe that this is day 34 of the blog and it is as amusing and informative as it was on day 1.
Graeme, how do you do it I hear you all say.  Well, its a gift and I must admit to being inspired by the thought that I am bringing a little sunshine into your corona virus blighted lives (and helping to keep me sane in the meantime).

Anzac day this year was certainly a lot different than Anzac day last year.  Some of you may recall that last year I was in the small Belgian city of Ypres (Ieper) for Anzac day.  Ypres was one of the crucial cities fought over on the western front during TGW.  Four major battles were fought around Ypres with the battle in 1917 known as 3rd Ypres involving every Australian battalion in the AIF.  One of the major battles in 1917 involving the Australians was the battle of Polygon wood, in which all sides suffered significant casualties.  

The dawn service I attended last year was held in the military cemetery located on the edge of Polygon wood.  This was attended by many Australians and New Zealanders plus many locals and representatives of the various combatants.  So, imagine the atmosphere standing in the chilly dark in a cemetery surrounded by hundreds of graves on the edge of the forest. The whole thing was arranged by the Australian and New Zealand embassies in Brussels and the Belgian military provided the various honour guards and catafalque parties.  It was an amazing and touching experience, I've popped in a couple of photos below.





For those of you who may be interested the dawn service from the Shrine is available on youtube at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_vJM2qPPbU

Don't be to daunted when you see that it goes for 50 minutes.  The dawn service starts at around the 20 minute mark.  

Current Virus Day Stats Day 111

Vic: 1,349 (+3 from previous day) - 17 deaths (increase 1)
Aus: 6,710 (+18 from previous day) - 83 deaths (increase 3)
Recovered: 5,372
World: 2,896,746



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