The Annual War Wallow

Another maudlin Anzac Day with the traditional dawn service at Paddy's Flat, communal town breakfast and "getting on the piss" at eight in the morning. I stood in line with my fire brigade buddies in full uniform as Cam gave his usual speech. It was great, because he chose to tell the story of those who aren't traditionally acknowledged in the annual war hero stories, and he related the story of an Australian medic serving in Afghanistan, who ran into enemy fire to pick up and carry an injured solider 150 metres to safety - "yeah, yeah, more macho brotherhood stories" I was thinking to myself, until Cam said "The medic was five foot two, and SHE was awarded a bravery medal."

Despite the war propaganda angle, it's a great event in Meeka because most of the town turns up and we all have breakfast together - I think that's really neat. This year the formality had a particularly Meeka tone because as Cam was giving his speech in front of the cenotaph, with the rest of us all dressed up and standing at attention, Basil the big silly Rottweiler puppy (who is the size of a small mastodon) came wandering up to Cam, so the speech went like this (you have to imagine the Scottish accent):  "Och, and as we grrrreeet the dawn and bow our heads in GIT! GORN GIT OUT OF IT BASIL! memory of those fallen men and women who gave their lives to GIT BACK YER BUGGER! GORN FUCK OFF! ensure our freedom etc etc".

I couldn't help it, and let out a tiny snort. Then Bithun, next to me, tried to choke back a giggle. Instantly the whole brigade lineup was choking with ridiculous noises as we tried not to explode into laughter, and we could hear the police officers behind us starting to cough & snort as well. Thank god we held it together.

Anyway, we had a big feed, the blokes got on the grog and I went back & picked up Gary at midday so he could come home and sleep it off. Now it's nearly time to make dinner and brace myself for an evening of war movies, but for the moment it's lovely and quiet with just the sound of the chooks clucking around not laying eggs.