VE Day

[Rhyd6]

How are you going to celebrate VE Day? We're having a picnic with friends from the village. They're coming up about 2.30pm, we'll listen to Churchill's speech and then we'll have a picnic where no doubt a drink or two will be partaken. I remember the last VE day celebration when we had the usual village party in the street but since this is no longer allowed we'll make do with a quiet picnic. Luckily we've enough room to space everyone at a safe distance but as we're all sound of voice we should still be able to natter.

R6

[dealtn]

How are you going to celebrate VE Day?

It's the wife's birthday in our house, so that particular celebration takes precedence here. It would be nice to think the rest of the country is joining our, sorry her, celebration, but I suspect they will be commemorating an alternative cause for celebration.

[bungeejumper]

I'm in shielded lockdown at the moment, although I probably don't really need to be. So I'll need to behave myself for a change. Damn nuisance!

So I'm going to sit tight at home, and think about my two uncles who were on the beaches on D-Day, and another uncle, who was probably the first British military driver to enter Belsen, and my two grandfathers, both of whom got shot during the Somme campaign. And then I'm probably going to think, hey, maybe this isn't so bad after all?

BJ (already apologising to the pub for the downbeat tone) Whatever you're doing, have a good one.

[UncleEbenezer]

If I knew when VE day was[1], it wouldn't make any difference.

[1] Yes I know I could google it if I cared.

[Dod101]

I have a brother in law who was born on the actual VE Day and he is quite impressed with all the fuss for his birthday.

Personally I will listen to the wireless I almost said but I guess it will be on the tele as well.

Dod

[AsleepInYorkshire]

In the garden

Not sat enjoying the sun and watching the grass grow though

Nope!

On the next leg of the civil engineering job. We can't get a machine in the back. So it's all hand dig.

I'd tell you the quantities but that wouldn't help understand what it's taken to get here.

I am going to put some photo's up though - just to remind myself how far we've come. And we still have a fair way to go - sometimes I hate living below my means

AiYn'U

[AF62]

How are you going to celebrate VE Day?

The comment from my mother when I mentioned it was "I lived through it and I don't understand why everyone is making such a fuss".

[JohnB]

Mum went and didn't enjoy it.

This time, I'm going to a Zoom BBQ

[tjh290633]

I can't recall what we did on VE day, but it was probably a schoolday. VJ day is another matter, as we had gone on holiday to Bournemouth. My father told me that the pubs had all run out of beer. I was 12 and there was a girl of a similar age in our boarding house, with whom I had my first proper kiss.

Memories, memories...

Yellow trolleybuses are the main memory of that holiday.

TJH

[didds]

My mum would have been just 8 years old. she can remember sitting with her younger sister (5) "teaching" her reading in their garden.

75 years on, my wife will be working on a hospital ward as a band 6 O.T.

We've no plans except maybe to go up and wave to my mum through her (VE day) decorated windows when my wife is back from the hospital. Whilst feeling guilty that we have made a not really necessary journey (1mile) to do so.

It's not that we dont care about the sacrifices of WW2. At all. It's just not really where we are at collectively as man and wife currently.

I will undoutebtledly spare a thought for my F-i-L , submariner 1944-45 in WW2 as a 16 and 17 year old (or thereabouts) who passed away not quite 18 months ago.


stay safe, all of us.

didds

[yorkshirelad1]

How are you going to celebrate VE Day? We're having a picnic with friends from the village. They're coming up about 2.30pm, we'll listen to Churchill's speech and then we'll have a picnic where no doubt a drink or two will be partaken. I remember the last VE day celebration when we had the usual village party in the street but since this is no longer allowed we'll make do with a quiet picnic. Luckily we've enough room to space everyone at a safe distance but as we're all sound of voice we should still be able to natter.

R6

I'm going to get flamed for this, but hey ho.
I'm not celebrating.
I've always disliked the glorification of war. Yes, remember the dead. But no-one ever learns from the mistakes. If you want a jolly good party, just have one. On purely mathematical basis, you'd have to be over 80 to really remember VE Day, and surely many of them should be self-isolating.
And this time round, on Friday, we're probably still under lock-down or its successor, yet people are using it as an excuse to have a jolly good party and push the limits on the guidelines (a local bus company is having a vintage drive-by of its old vehicles round the village: under which bit of "essential travel" does that fall, I wonder: grrrrrrrrrr).
No wonder the UK is heading for the head of top of the covid19 death tables.
Solution: defer it until after covid19 and celebrate the future, not the past.

[JohnB]

I asked mum about VE day, her response "A complete washout". She was 15 and arrived at Trafalgar Square in the afternoon with a friend and their parents to find not much happening, and they had to walk back to Liverpool St because the buses had stopped. They had a miserable time.

[didds]

under which bit of "essential travel" does that fall, I wonder: grrrrrrrrrr).

Im not a million miles from the overall thoughts from Yorkshitelad, but this piqued my interest.

After several weeks of this I still cannot find on the govt covid advcie website where any travel has to be "essential".

Plenty of stay at home, and absolutely necessary - but not "essential". Yet I see that woprd being used EVERYWHERE it seems ..

didds

[Dod101]

I'm not celebrating.
I've always disliked the glorification of war. Yes, remember the dead. But no-one ever learns from the mistakes.

I do not think commemorating VE Day is anything to do with the glorification of war. On Friday we should be remembering the sacrifices that were made over the previous 6 years or so, not celebrating because we beat the Jerries. I will not be celebrating and I do not think anyone else should be either. The event itself was a celebration but also relief that the war was over. There is nothing glorious about war but there is in overcoming evil.

Dod

[sg31]

under which bit of "essential travel" does that fall, I wonder: grrrrrrrrrr).

Im not a million miles from the overall thoughts from Yorkshitelad, but this piqued my interest.

After several weeks of this I still cannot find on the govt covid advcie website where any travel has to be "essential".

Plenty of stay at home, and absolutely necessary - but not "essential". Yet I see that woprd being used EVERYWHERE it seems ..

didds

How rude can you get.

[didds]

How rude can you get.

much

But not here. You are all top types

didds

[yorkshirelad1]

under which bit of "essential travel" does that fall, I wonder: grrrrrrrrrr).

Im not a million miles from the overall thoughts from Yorkshitelad, but this piqued my interest.

After several weeks of this I still cannot find on the govt covid advcie website where any travel has to be "essential".

Plenty of stay at home, and absolutely necessary - but not "essential". Yet I see that woprd being used EVERYWHERE it seems ..

didds

Not that I think in any way I know the definitive answer, but your response piqued my curiosity, and I did a little bit of research.

Your observation about "non-essential travel" is probably right. A quick bit of work does not yield the term in legislation, but it seems to have become a short hand.

I used https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-essential-travel/
not because I trust the content, but becuase it has good links to govt info.
It too says:

"When you can’t travel: Simply put, if you don’t have a reasonable excuse to leave or be outside the home, it is illegal to do so. The government has detailed in its guidance some of the specific cases where you are not allowed to travel. Essential travel does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks or similar places, either for isolation or holidays. You should remain in your primary residence."

The best I could do:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-essential-travel-guidance

COVID-19 essential travel guidance
Guidance and advice to avoid non-essential travel in the UK.
Following on from the government’s guidance on social distancing in relation to COVID-19, people should avoid travelling unless it is essential.

and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others
might give a sense of what is essential. Does it follow that anything else is non-essential?

BTW, didds, I'm assuming your shire/shite was a typo, unless you really were trying to be rude

[didds]

BTW, didds, I'm assuming your shire/shite was a typo, unless you really were trying to be rude

Oh [expletive deleted]! sorry! I am SO sorry!

yes - a typo not a snide remark!

Didds (who also has to be careful about his home county of Kent....)

[didds]

So I google "Covid UK govt"

and I get this site - first hit

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I Search on "essential" - no hits.

Then I click on "Read more about what you can and cannot do"

"Essential" appear on that page only in reference to work, medical need and elderly relatives

For work the section says "The government is not saying only people doing “essential” work can go to work. Anyone who cannot work from home can still go to work."

QED there is no "essential" work. Only work.



For medical - it says "You are advised to go to the doctor if there is an essential medical need."

"Essential" also appears under visiting for elderly relatives IF "you are a regular, formal carer, you may continue to help them as you usually do if that care is essential for their normal daily living.".

That's it. Nothing about shopping only for essential items, or exercising only if it is essential to a medical issue, or travelling for only "essential" reasons.



didds

[yorkshirelad1]

BTW, didds, I'm assuming your shire/shite was a typo, unless you really were trying to be rude

Oh Turnips! sorry! I am SO sorry!

yes - a typo not a snide remark!

Didds (who also has to be careful about his home county of Kent....)

acknowledged ... and with huge hilarity