Remember

Every year on May 4th it's Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. All dead from the Second World War are remembered and of every war after that (we were neutral during World War I). But the Netherlands wasn't only involved with Germany, because one of our colonies at the time was Dutch India (Indonesia now) and another was Dutch Papua Guinea. Of course when the Japanese declared war on all countries in the area, the Dutch in the area were in for a couple of years of real hardship, being put in camps and all. After the Americans dropped a few bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, WWII ended.

The war officially ended August 15th in the East and today there were several remembrances in the country. I had to pick up a small army music group and take them to one of the remembrance where they had to play during the ceremony. But first they had to have some dinner, so most of them went to the Chinese. After that, they had to get changed and the only place to do that, was my coach. So everyone driving past got a nice eyeful of half naked men and women. It was quite funny.

The ceremony itself was interesting. I had never been to a Remembrance Ceremony before, only ever seen it on television, so it was really new. A few speeches, one of which was a real-life account from one of the survivors. Then the national hymn and after that there were lots of people who laid wreaths and bunches of flowers. And then the ceremony was over and the musicians came back to the coach.

I've never been involved in a war and hope I never will be. I tried to get into the army, but was not fit enough (and will never be), so was not allowed in. I've become a busdriver instead. A bit less war...

Anyway, that was my day...