Right!
When did you last bump into a bunch of squaddies lying in a ditch, at the side of a track running through the forest?
Me?
Yesterday evening.
I wasn’t running, the track was.
I was walking.
Morning rain from the night before had given way to an afternoon clearing of the blue sky.
They – the squaddies - looked exhausted.
They were setting up the radio and moving their weapons in a confrontational manner.
I was having none of that – confrontation – so I skipped past with a jaunty bonjour.
This lot were French.
The last time (previously) that this happened was back when Roland was still alive.
When alive, Roland helped organise the yearly, weekend-long, anti-military pacifist festival in the local village. Singing , dancing, debates and cheese.
Lots of cheese.
The cheese came from Mao’s goat farm – Mao and Roland were friends back in Paris before the revolution of 68.
Soixatne-huitards the pair of them.
During the three-day festival the local regiments would make a point of organising ‘exercises’ in the hills and valleys around the village. One night I got home late and found them all sleeping in rows along the side of the track.
These days, Roland is not with us, the political festival largely forgotten and Mao no longer makes any cheese. He still eats it though.
I can’t help fearing that the squaddies presence yesterday owes more to the ongoing aggressive confrontations taking place around the globe, involving leaders that display both unstableness and a severe lack of pacifism.
They don’t deserve the cheese on their plate.
(This constitutes episode 6 of the series – When did you last?) - the editor
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
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