In this weekend of remembering the dead heroes from The Great War, or WW1 as it became better known when WW2 came along not long after the Peace Settlement of Paris stripped Germany of the Ruhr and its mineral and industrial base to expand the borders of France, leading to the economic collapse of Germany and the rise of a battle between communist supporters of the infant Soviet Union and national socialism led by an Austrian maniac, vegetarian, teetotal, part Jewish short-arse with a small moustache and only one ball ... well, let's just say the promise of no more War didn't last long at all, did it? In fact troops of many nations invaded the Soviet Union to stop that lot before mutinies stopped the warmongers ...
And so it went on ... was there ever a year without wars between nations from that day to this?
This, by the way, is Saturday 13th day of November 2021, when a friend arrives later, perhaps. Your blogger meanwhile sits writing to entertain you with a personal story, since history and herstory are not always reliable, since the winner's version usually survives longer than the loser's ... and the biggest loser in my history was Great Aunt Em, my Father's auntie, who lived in a big house on Fremantle Road in Southampton, with her brother Frank and little sister Nell, who was a dwarf. Now Auntie Em was tall, thin, strict and kind, whilst Uncle Frank was witty and joked about his right hand without fingers, chopped off in an accident in a factory where he worked, whilst Auntie Nell was spoilt by her siblings, since it wasn't her fault she was born so short.
It was only when my Mother died, after Dad and even after my brother, Frank, who died far to young due to a brain tumour, leaving two Sisters still living, therefore anonymous, and one heir for the antique lump of furniture to be swiftly auctioned off for 3 grand and a nice holiday in Morocco one Christmas ... and before Mum died and we were sorting out the postcards found in the Secretaire, with secret drawers, that Auntie Em's tragedy was revealed.
She fell in love, and the man she was to marry was conscripted and invited to visit France to help kill other young men, with Mothers and Lovers, from Germany, where they all met up for the fight. Before leaving, Auntie Em, the romantic young maiden pledged her troth and offered her maidenhood to her soldier lover, in case it was the last chance to know the joys of sexual intercourse, which, as it turned out it was ... the seed planted by her lover bore fruit, which was a scandal in that family and she gave birth and never saw whether it was a girl or a boy, before it was whisked away to be adopted by a respectably married couple with no baby of their own ... basically kidnapped.
As for Dad's secret, well during his war in Germany as a medic on a motorbike, one day he flew over the handlebars and left one testicle behind; never mind, he survived and knocked out four kids on one cylinder after marrying Mum, a Land Girl doing farm work ... and the rest is history ...
So, dear reader, if you're still reading this tragic tale, thank you for taking the trouble, because a writer by definition needs at least one reader, otherwise this blog would be a secret diary, only to be revealed when the shameful secret could be shared by the world ...
Time for breakfast, still dark here in Stanhope, but Moon was bright last night, so let's have a look out before Dawn. .. a whole new day in Stanhope in Weardale, with friends and strangers to greet just in case it's the last chance for any of us to do so ...one day that's sure to be the case, by the way!
Who knows! Another decade in good health perhaps?
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