Further reflections on Normandy

Just over a week after James and Abi's wedding, we returned from our trip to Houlgate last Saturday night at 11pm, pretty exhausted, but so pleased to have gone and accomplished what we did.
Once again, an audiobook featured strongly with so much driving, we will forever associate the Florida trip with 'True Grit' by Charles Portis. It is difficult to choose something with a good plot-line without it becoming too salacious or coarse in general. At the last minute I decided to go for 'D-Day', written and read by Stephen Ambrose.

I feared it would be too difficult for Bo, but he managed to pick up snatches of it. It begins with the assault on Pegasus Bridge, and the all too brief part that Den Brotheridge played in it. We all got to stand at the place where he was fatally injured by a piece of bridge metal that became shrapnel, hitting his neck when an enemy bullet struck the bridge.

Our visit to Point-le-Hoc was very poignant, with so many casualties simply being drowned or mown down before even setting foot on the beaches. Standing there made it obvious how naturally strong a defensive position it was, to which was added the prodigious 'Atlantic Wall' batteries.

The rest of the photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/amoebaswarm/sets/72157631235097602/
It was a challenging few days in many respects but everyone, Pads included, could enjoy the history. A particularly tough assignment was our visit to Le Grande Bunker museum.

This building has five floors and Pads, having struggled up to enjoy four of them, cut his losses and went back down. At least it was cool behind all that concrete! Pads was very patient, content to read or do his code-breakers while the boys let off steam in the pool. He did try and engage in a bit of horse-play with the smalls, but on one occasion this led to him falling flat on his back - much to everyone's consternation. We had not quite factored in how far the tent was from the toilet block, which presented it's own challenges. Overall though it was an excellent trip and added some significant history to our memories of France. It is four years since we were there (see photos) and the clipped journey back, with Pads howling 'my neck!', and the events that unfolded thereafter will not be forgotten anytime soon.

Sign of the times

Apologies if this is a bit shocking but Pads was laughing like a drain about this sign, and a few other pics he was flicking through on the i-Pad: Internet 'memes' which vary in their suitability to be repeated here... After wrenching himself out of bed on Sunday for the evening service, and looking pretty good for it, Pads has made it downstairs just a few times since. Once for the tutor on Monday, watching 'The Grapes of Wrath', which is a lot less depressing than the audio book, he says. Then last night he agreed to descend for a game of 'Phase 10' with his siblings: the play therapist gave him that for Easter. Today he's been in bed the whole day pretty much, apart from an evening bathe to make up for the fact that the hot tub was ruled out by foul weather. Of course, the irony in the image above is not lost on Pads. It is the very opposite of what he's actually wanting, especially in his darker moments. And yet he carries on carrying on. There have been many twists and turns to the last four years, but this one is quite special. I've likened the sitation to falling 40000 feet, only to be halted a few inches from the ground, knowing that the eventual impact is going to hurt all the same. I'd love him to use his 'voice' a bit more, but any expectations we have must be balanced by the sheer patience he has shown, and continues to show. And we still get out occasionally. Pads likes Poirot and it seemed too good a chance when the Agatha Christie Company were in town. Ally got tickets and we enjoyed it, even if there was no Poirot(!) I get in for nothing accompanying Pads. He's got that for the cinema too now so am pondering an Avengers trip. It all helps mark the time. What would you do with your last months?

Dark and Light Materials

As you may know, Pads has greatly enjoyed audiobooks, like those of Philip Pullman's - the 'Sally Lockhart' series especially. Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' series is fairly notorious: it starts off well enough but his militant atheism really shows its teeth in the second book, The Subtle Knife. So much so that Pads started to lose sleep over it. I favour a 'liberal education' and was confident that Pads would be able to make his own mind up about it. He did, and he's moved on to Jurassic Park instead. There are many people who are dead set against 'organised religion' because of all the damage it has allegedly done over the years (see this q&a between Pullman and a fan for example). I'm not condoning violence or harm, but apart from this being an 'old chestnut', a denial of the complexity of 'religion', not many who hold that view can command an audience of thousands of young people who will eagerly devour their every word.
But Pads saw through Pullman's disguise early on and it left him wondering how anyone could betray a good story to pursue such a pointless self-defeating objective. Pullman will simply join the long line of little human beings who have tried to 'kill God', but who fizzled out in the attempt. When asked for a comment, Pads says, 'he seems to believe in God because he's trying to destroy Him!' It's rather akin to Richard Dawkins sadly being heard to blaspheme under his breath on air the other week. If you are trying to eradicate God, why bother to use his name as an expletive? According to various sources, Pullman does not believe in God or an afterlife. If you do, and you're facing Him and it square on, this book is unhelpful. Try an excellent sermon on the subject instead (like the one our pastor preached last Sunday).

'The Tender Grape' has long been enjoyed by our children. We were delighted to receive a letter from it's recently retired editor, Mrs Boorman who, for over 40 years, has faithfully published this monthly magazine for children.

Pads and his mum have been pretty quiet over the last three days. Ally went down with a dose of shingles on Sunday and is still feeling drained by it. Hopefully Pads will not be affected by it, although he is at an increased risk given that he's on chemo (temozolomide) and if he does get any symptoms then we're on notice to get him put on the same antiviral drug Ally's taking.