mercurydancer

I recall a husband and wife who taught English Lit and wrote books. His name was David Elias but I cannot remember what her first name was. David was the main question setter for University challenge. Total crackpot though.

Snow forecast for Durham but not Teesside. The snow bounces off the pollution.

I am a big rugby fan, as much as I am a fan of Nottinghamshire cricket. The big fella died of kidney problems. I recall with much dismay, Lomu smashing down the left wing of the England side with England players bouncing off him. A few minutes later, he did it again. Then again. Despite my despair for England, I realised that I had seen a display of rugby that is truly of legend. I have not seen anything like it before or since. The best there has ever been. His demeanor could hardly be believed with his total aggression on the field. He was a total gentleman. RIP a true rugby legend.

Michaelbooth Some of the young did what I did. They joined the services. There was a snotty lad with an attitude whose mother was a barmaid at my local hostelry. He joined the Navy and I complimented him on his turnout on Remembrance Day. Immaculate and proud. There will always be those who go after us. It is our duty to tell them what such duty involves* *Although most of my army duty was in Germany, and lots of beer, sausages and staring at an army which never did invade.

Carni A long time ago I was a young officer in the army. We were sent to Arnhem on 17 September, the anniversary of the Market Garden operation. We were there to escort the veterans and also to be guided ourselves by the veterans. I was a medic, and outside of a hotel, which was very pleasant, we met many Royal Army Medical Corps veterans. It was the site of a RAMC field ambulance/aid post at the time. The role of the medical officer has not changed much in a century. One of them asked me how many casualties I could handle per hour in the field ambulance reception post. I said, about 60. He s

Thanks Carni. Remembrance is a subject close to my heart. One day I would like to write a book about ordinary Nottingham soldiers, of every era and not necessarily decorated heroes, but those who grew up in the areas we know. I want to know every step they took. I know lots about my uncles, my grandfather, but that is family, They were with other soldiers, from all over the country, with them and that is interesting to know.

For any one of you who paid respects, by either standing still in silence, wearing a poppy, going to a service, or anything, thank you. We must remember. There will be many soldiers, sailors and air force who will risk their lives over the next few years. Some of them will die. The dignity of the remembrance is important.

I will be in London for the Remembrance parade. I will be a guest of the Grenadier Guards. This is because I was in RAMC. We are made welcome anywhere where a soldier needs help. In practical terms this means I will be very drunk by the end of the day, on champagne and port. I look forward to it. With the focus on WW1, the Germans didnt just give up and walked back, they were defeated. The British troops were fundamental in turning over the Germans in those final weeks of the war. The Russians certainly stopped any eastward advance. 46 Midland Division achieved things that were inconceivable

iandawson I do battlefield tours and one of the most evocative things I can do is to put a photograph of the person who lies below and to make them live again in memory. I do a tour of the Somme battle field and there is someone from Hyson Green who I have researched quite extensively but I still do not know what he looked like. I have seen photographs of his company but I cant tell who he is. I know where he lived, where he enlisted, where he trained, where he embarked for France, where his trench was, and exactly the moment he died. My grandfather's military history was somewhat disrepu

Went past the Owd G last weekend - he is gone. Another part of my history gone. Great shame really but time does move on.

That verse, " We shall remember them" I have spoken in public three times. Once as a young officer. It is an army tradition that youngest get to pay respects at certain times. I was proud, but I barked out the prayer like it was an order. Our older selves can look back but cannot alter. I could have done it better now, but at the time, as a subaltern, I just wanted to get through the day without making a prat of myself. Two decades later, I was asked to lead the prayer. My voice broke on the middle of the four sentences. I recall it well, I barely managed to get to the last sentence due to

DJ360 you are entirely right. The consequences of war are immense. Believe me as a soldier I know. However, my intent was that for the slabs of portland stone, there should be a photograph of the soldier (or airman, or naval for that matter) that lays beneath, so that we can recognise him as a person, and not as just a casualty.

Bilboroughshirley That is the essence of what I have proposed. Its what I have heard many times in the many military parades I have attended. We will remember them.

Its that time of year again. I wear my poppy with pride, but it has taken me on a line of thought. I may be being a little idealistic, or even somewhat daft, but I'll explain. Every year, I visit the huge graves of the Somme, Pas De Calais and Flanders, sometimes to be a battlefield guide, sometimes for research, but most often, its because I want to understand and appreciate those who lay there. I have noticed, to my great joy, a type of remembrance. It is possible because of the internet. People can now find the photographs of their relations from WW1 and WW2 and print the photo and past

And we need the Jarra lads more than ever. Teesside steel is near dead, 2000 laid off last week, another 2000 to go. Just as the local MP. Minister for the Northern Powerhouse (yes really) appeared in a conference in a swish hotel not far from Teesside.

I can certainly remember Birkin Avenue in the late 60s. It had an outside lav. It still had an Anderson shelter too. As a child I asked for the loo and my father took me down a path made of the shiny white bricks from the iron works, and to the toilet. My father was from a big family and there was only one lav. Out the back. How they managed back in the 40s when my father and his siblings grew up is anyones guess. I suspect it had something to do with potties.

My surname can be traced very accurately. The site is still there, not quite an ancestral home, but a little less than that. Some may claim to be from honourable trades, some from exciting cities, some with religious attachments. Some may lay claim to riches and treasure. My surname can be accurately traced to the back end of what is now a council estate in Blackburn.

That is sad. I lived in Bobbers Mill Road for some decades and it was a delight to see the Owd G dressed up as santa each Christmas when I was a child. I was down in Nottingham last week and the Owd G was still there but it was obvious that there was some building work going off. The last time I was in the Old General pub was possibly 2009 when I had returned from Russia. I had travelled from a remote part of Russia, then to Moscow, then to London, then to Nottingham, and I wanted a pizza so I ordered one from the pizza place on the Radford Road station near to the tram, then went to my

Catfan In the totally uncivilised lands of the north east cheesy chips are normal fare. I frankly find them disgusting. I know that the north easterners ( not all are geordies) are uncivilised, is because they do not serve mushy peas with mint sauce. Mind you, I have a favourite stall which I frequent outside of the Stadium of Light which serves the most delicious chips. Many is the time when I am with my step- son and the best thing we can say about the Sunderland match is the chips were good. Oh and the beer at Wetherspoons, the Coopers Rose.

DJ I admire you for your posts. Many of us suffer from depression, and it does take on many forms and has different causes, but its still horrible. I have had severe depression some times in my life, and it was not connected with anything nasty in my life, or anything like it. A very good doctor explained that there are various types of depression, and mine was linked to my brain just dumping a chemical, known as serotonin. Its origin is likely to be genetic. Although the manifestations of the disease were behavioural and very severe, it was of chemical origin. It is distinguished by the s

Its an odd thing but I can sleep with my eyes open. In the army it was invaluable, but it did creep a few of the lads out. On exercise, where sleep is precious, I would be there with my eyes open, looking over whatever the lads were doing, but fast asleep. It looked like I was staring. An unwavering unblinking stare, for hours, until I started to dream, where it got seriously weird. Eyeballs going everywhere...... One corporal described it in the post exercise debriefing as something like the movie, the exorcist.

Blondie I'm from Nottingham, born and brought up in the city, and consider it the centre of the universe. In all of my time up here in Co Durham and North Yorkshire (30 years, so I have served my time) I have never heard any Teessider call themselves Geordies. Its simply not credible. They dont consider themselves to be Geordies. I have never seen anything where Cloughy identifies himself as a Geordie. I would appreciate any quotes along those lines. It would be incredible that anyone from Middlesbrough would describe themselves as a Geordie but with Clough, anything goes. He may well have

Just a little bit of local goegraphical linguistics - (I live in Co Durham) Smoggies (aka smogmonsters) are from Teesside. Its self-explanatory. This is a relatively new term and not one Clough would have used. The closest thing he might have used was Burra lad. Makems are from Sunderland. Because they make things. "We mak em" Geordies are most certainly from Newcastle and draw the distinction along the north bank of the River Tyne. Wooly backs live north of the Newcastle conurbation. Or west of Durham city. Or anywhere the population is exceeded by the number of sheep. Pit yakkers li

Middlesbrough. Not Middlesborough. Its not in North Yorkshire. At one time it was in the North Riding but that went a long time ago (as did the North Riding Infirmary, where I spent many happy years working at)

Michael As a professional I can see that you and your mrs are being given the best of care and advice. A combined mastectomy and reconstruction is indeed very complex and difficult, but that is for the surgeons. Let them do what they are good at. A long complex operation does not mean that your wife will suffer undue pain or disfigurement , in fact quite the opposite, The end result is of the craft of the surgeons and anaesthetists. It will look good. Pain will be minimal. With you every step of the way.