Remembering

Today I wanted to pay respect to the fallen but time ran away with me this morning and at 11am I was taking off my boots after walking the dog. I happened to glance at my watch whilst sitting on the bottom of the stairs and realised that I had just missed the Remembrance hour. I sat for a minute in silence though as I'm sure it's not imperative that it has to be at 11am and as I do every year, a tear fell for no apparent reason.

I've started my level 2 camera course and one of our projects is transport so I had a great idea and decided to go to the Gosport ferry, cross Portsmouth harbour waters and take some pics of any passing boats. I thought I may get some good close ups of the ferry too. Anyway, as I boarded and got up onto the top deck, HMS Westminster began it's departure from Portsmouth. It seemed very poigniant and lots of passengers stood silently as it glided by with it's mini escort. I'm not sure of it's destination but do know that it is one person lighter. Timmy MacColl was on the ship when it docked in Dubai. He hasn't been seen since.

I managed to get lots of shots of ships of all sorts of sizes and descriptions and today's Blip is not only of HMS Westminster but also of it's two tug-boat escorts, a small sailing boat and the Isle of Wight ferry in the background...a plethora of boats!

After returning to dry land I walked to the War Memorial on the seafront. There were lots of people milling around and laying wreaths. I strolled around reading the cards and tributes left to departed service personnel and was particularly touched by three small wooden crosses which bore the names of three members of the same family all killed within one year of each other. I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like for the family left behind but it just goes to remind us all of the sacrifice that people made and continue to make.