Whenever I go for a Steward Stroll there is always a random song or two running through my head. Sometimes I have no idea where it comes from. Today's two songs were probably prompted by the weather.
There we were at 5 pm staring out of the window to see whether a walk would be possible. It was bright sunshine, blue skies and not a cloud in sight. So off we went and the lyric that came into my mind for some reason was from Mandolin Wind - a song written by Rod Stewart which appears on the classic album "Every Picture Tells a Story."
When the rain came I thought you'd leave
'Cause I knew how much you loved the sun
But you chose to stay, stay and keep me warm
Through the darkest nights I've ever known
It somehow seemed apt for the conditions and the times we are living through. I thought we could safely walk around the outside of the village - a distance of about 2.4 miles. Those bright skies seemed a distant memory as it suddenly went very dark and started to rain. A Steward Stroll suddenly turned into a Steward Sprint to get home and I just about made it as a David Bowie song came to mind.
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
Five years - all I wanted was 10 minutes to get back home! Guess what - five minutes after I got back it stopped raining and the sun came out again.
The walk did give me the opportunity to take a few "moody pictures" as well as a few basic ones of various buildings. I thought the village looked a tad shabby in certain areas but that was probably because of the dark clouds which always make things look and feel more depressing - at least the rain will be good for the gardens.
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I can't finish off this blog without mentioning once again the massacre at Le Paradis in Northern France on May 27th, 1940. As many of my readers will know, I am a member of the Le Paradis Commemoration Group (LPCG) and, along with John Head, am responsible for building a website to remember the 97 soldiers from the Royal Norfolk, Royal Scots and other regiments who died in the massacre. You can read the site at
www.leparadismassacre.com
A sister group of the (LPCG) - the Le Paradis Memorial Group - has been working very hard to raise money and provide a permanent memorial in Norfolk and this week we heard that the final hurdles have been cleared to site the memorial in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral Close.
This is a huge step forward in making people aware of the massacre of troops who were trying to hold back the German advance to enable the evacuation of Dunkirk to take place.
It is likely that the memorial will be in place sometime in 2021. I am sure that the 97 would love to know that their names live on in Norfolk and in Northern France where there are already numerous memorials.