The holiday was great (pictures
here)
with much relaxing and fun. I asked Joanne to marry me here
and she
said yes so yay for us. We visited the beaches of Normandy including Mulberry

and war graves which was an interesting experience. The American war graves
were a
well kempt island of the United States abroad the solid green grass
combined with equidistant tombstones should give it a solemn feel. This
is lost somehow with the Saving Private Ryan holidaymakers (The visitors
lodge had a map of how to get to a 'Private Ryan') and school groups
with screaming kids. The
German war graves
were by contrast a horrible, clawing, nasty
place to go. The graves are equidistant and the grass green but the
atmosphere is totally different. The German war graves commission is a
private institution that brings together 'yoofs' from all over the world
to cultivate and maintain the sites. Basically it's a message of peace
paid for by the German public.

Anyhow, the few people there were either related to the dead (20,000 in
all, 2 to a grave) or tourists like myself. The really interesting thing
coming away from the site is that unlike the American counterpart, which
has a 'glory' feel to it the German evokes the nature of war especially
this one. It's political and nothing to do with the men and women in the
ground in northern France and all over Europe.

The first week back at work was a little mixed, on Monday and some of
Tuesday I spent a lot of time explaining how and where I proposed
Wednesday I got through the most tedious aspects of return to work piles
and Thursday I went to a press event. Actually I went to two and got
very drunk awoke the next morning and promptly threw up. I arrived at
work shortly before 12 and spent the rest of the day having hot and cold
sweats feeling pretty rough. Not unusual for a hangover you might say
but as soon as the fresh nigh air hit me as I left work I began to feel
odd. I thought some food might do me some good so we went for a meal and
for a short while I felt ok again but as we got home I was sick again
and again. So Friday was a dead loss.

On Saturday fully refreshed we went to the natural history museum
,
which is spectacular if not just for the building itself. Then on Sunday
we went to Eltham
Palace
which is always good.