So; as i kind of eluded to in my last post; My brother is home with his girlfriend again - they now live in Sydney; used to be Canberra before they moved - his gf was born an Australian. Its actually the 3rd time theyve visited; think my brothers been out there 6 years now maybe? Not sure.
Not only is that cool; but i ordered a 3d "carved" i guess wooden map of Sydney as a christmas present for my parents...which turned up today; and the fact that i could open it in front of my family (and cousin of the same name) was pretty damn awesome.
Add to that; its now the 75th anniversary of the Overlord D-day (just calling it D-day irks me. All operations had a D-day as the "go day" so the Somme had one, battles for Ypres etc...but the only D-day remembered is the one today. Yesterday now for me; Duxford had about 30+ Dakota's and C-47s around; and about 20 of them took off, and flew from Duxford to Caen in France as a fitting tribute to those who served - and those who fell fighting for our freedom. Where i live; all these planes flew pretty much in line with my road on their way to Maidstone, on their way, so i wanted to stay up to see this once in a life time event. The 2oclock take off was delayed...then delayed, until about 4 oclock when they took off, and about 4.40 they passed overhead. My road was packed with people parking up. People parked on double yellow lines, on the corners etc to witness it. Never seen my road like it and i'm really happy to have seen so many people "pay their respects". Took some photos on my phone which i might upload to here, but it was such a sight. May have only been 20 of them and the original flight was hundreds of times that, but still. With the delay, it had meant by the time i got back home it was about 5/6pm and i'd been up 24hours, and then being told "we're going for a family meal". Great; well i'm shattered and i'm not gonna go- almost fell asleep in my chair, so thought i might fall asleep at dinner- nah, no thanks!
Again; and more broadly. Lots of thanks to those who have served in (ALL nations) Military forces. Whatever conflict; area; nation; time period. Thank you.