Whatever event was going on in Hebden Bridge Town Hall this afternoon it involved a few dozen identically-dressed elderly gentlemen, weighed down with various medals. By no means all of them had their mobility scooters, but quite a few of them did. Well, good luck to them. I use the shot because I am reminded of the cover of the Dead Kennedy’s Frankenchrist album — it is not to mock.
Seeing as I missed the Victory Day celebrations yesterday let’s pay homage with this shot. The Russian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies below the monumental west wall of the Kremlin, at one end of a row of memorials to various Soviet cities, all decorated since yesterday with garlands of flowers. I think we citizens of elsewhere mostly forget that it was the Soviets who lost the most men (and women) of all the countries who fought in World War Two. They have a right to remember the dead. Perhaps not to celebrate them — but to remember them.
Being 42 