War and Beef

It was an intriguing contrast. At one o'clock I was doing my very best impression of 'Desperate Dan' and eating my way through a herd of cows and a Yorkshire Pudding. Two hours later, I was wandering around an exhibition about the Holocaust and confronted with pictures of innocent people being sent to their death - scared, hungry, fearful and sometimes unknowingly.
I spent a very pleasant hour or so wandering from London Bridge to Lambeth North. The rain was dribbling away and it took me about an hour, I didn't feel like upping the pace. The most disappointing aspect was the closure of the Waterloo Bridge book fair. It is quite an archaic bridge and tends to leak during rainy periods - books and rain don't mix too well.

I made it to Lambeth North, just in time for the Church service to finish. Therese, Mark and I ended up in the Doghouse. Not because we missed the church service, Mark and Therese made it, it was the name of the pub. A veritable feast ensued, later joined by Helen (the victim of an oversleep and dodgy public transport).
It didn't look quite so good, but it was devoured nonetheless.

Mark departed to play some soccerball and the three of us were left to recount old tales, plans for the immediate future and merits of a Teutonic existence (I jest with the last part, obviously). The three of us digested the lunchtime feast, Therese and Helen opted for a crumble and custard to round things off...and eventually headed towards the Imperial War Museum.

The main aim of the visit was to sit ourselves in the bomb shelter experience - something I have not tired of despite numerous visits. However, we headed up to the heavens and stumbled across an exhibition dedicated to the the Holocaust.

Harrowing would not come close to describing the experience. I have read the Diary of Anne Frank and have paid a visit to Struthof concentration camp, but it really did bring to home the horrors of the ordeal facing 4 million plus civilians. Ironically, there were two people locked out of the camp tour (circa 1991) and they were German. "Let us in!". Not that I am wishing to label all Germans as being Nazi's, I hasten to add.

There have been and there will always be movements hoping to wipe out a particular race, tribe or creed. We have to be brave and stand up to those.

It was emotionally draining. We were faced with faces and actual real live people who were destroyed for the sake political policies. Innocent lives treated no better (worse, obviously) than cattle destined to end up on our dinner plates. I believe I have done a complete circle there.

Word of the Day: Anosmia -is a lack of functioning olfaction, or in other words, an inability to perceive odours or smell.

Quote of the Day: "... in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again." - Anne Frank