It's Monday and it is absolutely gorgeous outside. I love mornings, especially when I don't have to be at work. I work for Karen P today so I don't have to go in til 5:15pm. Normally I don't have to go in at all, but we switched so that I could go to the 24 hour relay on the weekend, which I am really looking forward to. So, being as it's early I can get all my housework done and still have time to go and sit in the sun. (hopefully, you know the best laid plans and all...)

Anyway the street beside me is still torn up - I think this City of London make work program is going to last all summer. There was a false alarm in the building across the street this morning so I got to watch firemen :) Unfortunately I'm on the 7th floor so the firemen looked more like firemen ants :( As I watched them, I remembered watching a film shot by two Frenchmen about 9/11. It wasn't so much about the terrorist attack, they were just in the right (wrong) place at the time. They were filming a fireman rookie and what his day was like. I remember every time there was an alarm, he would hope that it was a real fire, not a cat stuck up in a tree. Not because he wanted anyone to get hurt, but because he had trained for so long and the idea of fighting one excited him. Unfortunately(?) when the planes hit the buildings and all hell broke loose, he was designated to stay behind at the fire hall while his brother and the other firemen went to the towers. So, as I was watching these guys this morning, I wondered if when the alarm sounds, are they looking forward to doing what they love, or do they hope it's a false alarm or kind of a mixture? And the Platoon Chief. What exactly does he do and how many stations does he cover? He was the last one here this morning and the first to go. Is that because it was a false alarm and he has other duties?

On to other things. Ronald Reagan died on the weekend. I don't follow politics but I know he was a well respected man. Anyone who can stand in Berlin and cry "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." and have it done has my respect and admiration. We were inundated with heartfelt thoughts about him yesterday, no matter where you turned on the tv. The person that I respect in this is his wife, Nancy. Now here's a woman that loved and respected him so much that even when the chips were down, she never thought of herself. She protected him and nursed him and I can only imagine the pain and frustration of having the one person you love more than life itself, not even know who you are. Yet she stood by him until the very end. I've known a couple of people with Alzheimer’s and it's sad to see someone who has been such a strong and independent person reduced to a child-like state.

One thing that I haven't mentioned is the D-Day remembrances. I like most(if not all) of you have no real experience with war except what I see on tv and what stories are told or retold by family that I have in the military. My father was an Air Force veteran, but never had the misfortune of being called to duty in that manner. He was more the technical side of it, working with Radar on the DEW line. (Due Early Warning for those of you who, like me when I was little, wondered what the heck the dew line was) I used to think dew was something that showed up on the grass in the early morning before anyone got up. But I guess that's kind of what it was like. It was up to them to ensure that no missiles came over before anyone knew what was happening. It was during the cold war, something that I also know little about. Anyway, as I said, I have no real experience with war. I don't understand the mentality of killing for any reason, let alone for political views. But I guess we've grown up in a somewhat sheltered environment. Personally, I would like to keep it that way for my children and all the children to come. I know that is probably unrealistic but sometimes I wonder, things being as they have been since that D-Day, if we would even begin to know how to fight as our grandparents did. I was reading Mike's blog and the comment about "what if the Toronto University students had decided to stay home?" and wonder now, how many would volunteer to defend someone else's country?

Anyway, I should be doing something a little more productive...