it commences with a bunch of flowers. . . .

THE CENOTAPH.... from a saluting platform on the post-WWI summer celebration procession, manufactured from timber, to the permanent, in-your-face reminder, "stuck in traffic" right outside the F.O, Downing Street + the war office/ MoD, the centre of a campaign to remember each + every casualty was all due to . . . .
The mourning after the parade . . . . the " unknown soldier " saluting platform", in Whitehall, was one of many, many saluting platforms all across London . Perhaps the key thing about it was what it didnt have - any religious symbols at all, except a wreath, to represent what the designer referred to as " those of all religions and none" - people of all spiritual sorts, + those that didnt think there was a "spiritual" -at all. The "Great War" had tested a lot of faiths - in humanity itself, too. But as the sun came up, something had gotten added to the design.
A small bunch of flowers. . . .
. . . . the soldier could have come from any country in the commonwealth, either side, in fact - so, from anywhere. . . .
Then a bunch of flowers got added to that first bunch of flowers. . . .
. . . . during the war, people in south africa had taken to stopping for a few minutes, at noon, wherever they found themselves, as much out of showing sympathy with the people at home that worried, or had lost fathers, sons, brothers - - - - or daughters. ( the new addition to Whitehall, at last, remembers that, too )
Then . . . . further bunches of flowers . . . .
. . . . the kids in the Flanders region of the front that had lost both parents in the bombings caused the first "red poppies" to get created (- the idea sprang from a poem writ by a medic in those trenches, in the midst of the "second battle of the somme" ) - in London, after the "second world war", the gardens at "St. James" in Piccadilly were laid out to remember the civilians that had died in the bombings, but for some time the nearest to a commemoration of the Londons "WW1" civilian casualties was the plaque on the righthand sphinx of "Cleopatra's needle" , by the side of the Thames, with gardens - the plaque is incorrect in as much as the first bombs fell in march, 1915, but that " 'round about midnight " mention was all there was for ages . . . .
other bunches of flowers . . . . the flowersellers ran out. . . .
. . . . the YWCA secretary spread the "poppies" idea, it was taken up by the womens co-op guilds, it meant some different things to different people, but it meant REMEMBER to everybody
the streets of whitehall were blocked to traffic by the "mobs" that quietly brought flowers . . . . the press wrote reports . . . . politicians that wanted to get a picture taken there had to queue too. . . .
The idea was "preposterous. A PERMANENT structure ?
THERE ? An EYESORE ! A thing, yes, but smaller, out of the way - a cul-de-sac perhaps. THERE its a . . . . hazard to traffic. Its a DISRUPTION to the ordered continuation of business as usual ." Even if the French WERE commemorating the moment when The Great War ended, a year after, the entire idea was " ridiculous absurd nonsense ". . . .
people kept coming. . . . pressure grew . . . .LOTS of flowers. . . . "Clear that rubbish away" said some Functionary or other. . . . they did . . . . but the NEXT mourning. . . . YES.YOU GUESSED.
". . . . that all locomotion should cease. . . ." The South African Commissioner had brought the idea back, a journalist had written about it, the "cabinet", prompted by the ministerial Assistants had cut the time from three minutes to a single minute, but the king put it back up to two. The Proclamation , to some extent, reflected public opinion . . . .
hence
REMEMBER
POPPIES . . . .
SILENCE
. . . . A PAUSE FOR THOUGHT.


. . . . the cenotaph remains, a sore thumb, a reminder, "in yer face" - celebrating wasnt adequate - "out of place" in Whitehall as St. Pauls is "out of place" in the City of London,
with similar Xs all over the country, whether opposite the "bchtl" in Euston, or opposite the old "enrn" place at the roundabout south of Hyde Park. . . . the Silence is back up to two minutes. . . . a larger number of poppies get sold than ever. . . . ( red + white ) - people are less easy to twist against each other in these years - but
if
we
dont
think,
then the "pauses" are wasted ....



but they are not wasted.


so, when the house of Lords gets to debate the " eyesore " across the road . . . . + why . . . .