Mono-Monday: "Origins" - Remembrance Poppies

Not having had a chance to visit the "Blood Swept Lands" poppy display at the Tower of London last year, we were pleased to find that some of the poppies (including the "Weeping Window") are touring round the country. I note that fellow blippers have already blipped photos of the current display at Woodhorn Colliery near Ashington, Northumberland - for example here, here, here and here.

Those blippers have already done an excellent job of showing off the display. So when we visited today I thought I'd blip them a bit differently. The Mono-Monday challenge today is "Origins" so I checked up on the origin of the use of the poppy as an international symbol of remembrance. There's a good description here; briefly it comes from the aftermath of the battles on the fields of Flanders. Poppy seeds can lie dormant in the ground for several years, germinating when the ground is disturbed and this is presumably what happened when the weather began to warm up in the spring of 1915 and subsequent years, following the battles the years before.

Looking at the display and thinking of the poppies representing young lads (on both sides) who died fighting was very sobering.

I've included a colour version of today's monochrome shot in the extras, and also a rather cute shot of a small boy (I've no idea who!) kneeling down to take his picture.

Many thanks to Nickimags888 for doing such a superb job of hosting Mono-Monday throughout October.