Thursday, October 25, 2012
My Recent Trip to the WW1 Battlefields of the Somme and Arras
My friend and fellow writer Vanessa Gebbie recently invited me to join her and a few other friends - mostly writers too - on a weekend trip to the World War 1 battlefields in France, along the Western Front. This isn't something I ever thought I'd want to do. But it was an immensely powerful experience, something I don't think I've even begun to process. We were guided by Jeremy Banning, an immensely talented military historian who has written an excellent and detailed blog on our trip here. Vanessa has blogged about her thoughts here, with wonderful pictures, and poet Caroline Davies wrote several blog posts about our trip here. I can't add to that yet so I invite you to read their blogs. Sorry for the cop-out. I am hoping life will slow down soon and I will have time to blog properly.
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4 comments:
HI T - you mustn't feel you 'have' to write a blog post about the trip. I'm not sure I will ever process the experiences, myself. But am happy to let them sink through my particular sand.
Sounds wonderful. I'd be interested to hear what you're prepared to die for. ~Miriam
Thanks for the mention. I don't think there was an expectation that we should blog about the trip so you shouldn't describe yourself as having copped out. In any case mine were more a collection of rambles than coherent posts, just me mulling over a moving and poignant weekend.
I don't think I can answer the question about what I'd be prepared to die for. On the other hand who is very easy - my children, my brother and probably my husband especially if it meant he could stay around to look after the children.
Hi V, I think I probably won't blog about it, no. It's still all whirling around in my subconscious!
Miriam - not sure I'll share it with the world, but it's an interesting question, isn't it. It was rather clearer to me when I lived in Jerusalem, since you haev to face those sorts of issues daily, eh?
Caroline, it's a hard one. Maybe a question to think about rather than to answer.
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