Off to war

Troops of the 5th Beds Infantry parading outside Luton Town hall during the 1st world war. The 5th Division was a permanently established Regular Army division that was amongst the first to be sent to France at the outbreak of the First World War. It served on the Western Front for most of the war except for a brief period in Italian Front.

The 5th Division, as a regular army formation (one of the Old Contemptibles) fought in many of the major battles of the Western Front from the Battle of Mons in 1914, the later stages of the Somme offensive, including the first battle using tanks, up to the Battle of the Selle in 1918.

Note the cables for the trams. Apparently the tracks are still in place beneath the pedestrianized streets and before that, the roads that used to run through the town centre as they simply laid the new surface over them rather than dig them up. Note also that everyone back then wore a hat. That's what you did when hat making was the major industry in your town.

Been busy with work today. A lot on right now so I decided to spend a bit of time preparing things today so that next week a little less stressful. I'm off for a ride on my bike now, a 40 minute session where I will work hard and go nowhere. Crazy or what, and to think that I used to laugh at the children's hamster on his wheel.