Remembrance Sunday – A poignant day during which I watch the Cenotaph service in the morning and attend the St James Church memorial service and the only shame was the England cricket team playing out the final overs of their match with Australia in India at the time the two-minute silence should have been held and the appalling atrocity at the Enniskillen memorial where an IRA bomb killed 11 people commemorating the war deaths
Slept well enough after a restless start and then lay in until 9.30am and got a mild headache as a result. Made myself a morning tea and sat in the lounge watching exciting coverage of the England v Australia final of the world one-day test championships. This cricket match was very exciting and, with Australia winning the toss and batting first, England got within 7 runs of their score before running out of time in this 50 overs match. It was about 11.00am by this time and, after having a bowl of cereal, I got washed and dressed so as to get out to feed the ducks before lunch. Diana was very late up this morning and struggled to get Debbie up and out to church. Then lunch was very late, allowing me time to read most of today’s paper. Daniel’s friends, Gary and Steve, were here for lunch and we only just managed to spread our meal of roast chicken for enough. Finished off the Sunday paper this afternoon and then, an early tea, as we were due to take Debbie to St James Church for the memorial service, which was very good.
I had watched most of the televised service at the Cenotaph this morning and had been moved by it. I regretted the fact that the 2 minutes silence corresponded with the closing overs of the England cricket innings in India. I thought they should have anticipated this and had a 2 minute silence at the ground as a mark of respect. This evening, I read all of the last two week’s local newspapers and took out the Little Paxton press cuttings. Quite a lot has happened, but plans to build hundreds of houses – thousands in fact – in the surrounding area will be an appalling stress to the local sense of community. The news today is of an atrocity in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, Ulster, where a bomb was set off at a war memorial, killing 11 people and maiming many more. It exploded as mourners were congregating opposite the memorial for a remembrance service and the building collapsed on top of them. Today’s explosion is the worst terrorist atrocity in Northern Ireland for 5 years. The Queen and all politicians of Britain and Ireland have condemned the attack as an outrage. All, that is, except the Sinn Fein (political wing of the IRA) who are in majority control of the Enniskillen Council, who are ‘reserving judgement’. The PLO has taken an Israeli yacht in the Middle East and held 8 people and 2 children hostage.