Ready. Steady. Poe.

The weather today was pants. A day to be indoors with a good book. So after ninety minutes of life-guarding at the pool and shopping on the way home, that's exactly what was called for.

Having just finished another account of the battle of Jutland and the B110 magazine that I bought on ebay, I borrowed from the library in Kirkwall a copy of 'The war the infantry knew 1914-1919' by Captain J. C. Dunn. Now all this death and destruction is a bit heavy for an old. tree-hugging pacifist like me, so I also grabbed 'Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard', a collection of short graphic novels, for a little light relief. It worked.

But then I also got an email from the Woodland Trust asking for a donation to fund Centenary Woods in commemoration of the nation's fallen. While I always buy a poppy and continue to support the Trust, I have a dislike of 'selective remembrance'. On the elevens, I will think instead, perhaps, of the six unarmed German navy personnel shot during the scuttle of 21 June 1919. (Then I remember where I live and shut up!) Ignorance in languages may have placed limitations on my reading matter, although being lumbered with Owen and Sassoon can hardly be an imposition, but I am determined to understand the conflict's impact on a broader canvas.