British style poppy for November 11.

[piperdbh]

Some of the reporters/presenters on the BBC last night were wearing poppies.

[Lallans]

Some of the reporters/presenters on the BBC last night were wearing poppies.

I read recently that November poppies are a 'religion' in Canada- not an innacurate statement. Certainly, you will not see a public figure at this time of year that isn't wearing one. There was a host of a science show on cable TV that resisted but had to give in- I personally don't watch that show anymore due to a rise in BP at the sight of the man.

A new thing in Canada is a dimwitted "peace group" that sells white coloured "peace" poppies to counteract the "prowar" red ones, or at least tries to. I don't follow their show any more either.

[xena]

A new thing in Canada is a dimwitted "peace group" that sells white coloured "peace" poppies to counteract the "prowar" red ones, or at least tries to.

Which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The red poppies, and Remembrance Day itself, is the biggest anti-war demonstration in Canada.

[Lallans]

Which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The red poppies, and Remembrance Day itself, is the biggest anti-war demonstration in Canada.

YES! And the people who wear the RED poppies know what war means, first or second hand.

[Mike_Oettle]

Xena wrote: “The red poppies, and Remembrance Day itself, is the biggest anti-war demonstration in Canada.”

But those dim-witted peaceniks don’t want to understand. They are obsessed with the idea that commemorating the war dead is a glorification of war.
Regards,
Mike

[Bill aka Mole]

Which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The red poppies, and Remembrance Day itself, is the biggest anti-war demonstration in Canada.

Absolutely! All of this is reminding me of CSA General Robert E. Lee
"It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it."

[Lallans]

I am pleased to announce that my wished-for British poppy has arrived by mail. It sits a treat in my green Balmoral (from Glengarry Hats dot com), and I'll wear it with pride all this week and especially on Remembrance Day (along with my Canadian one), thereby preserving the personal tradition.

And I want to once again thank everyone who so generously offered to mail me a poppy. Since the British version has proved so hard to obtain here in the colonies, I will try to ensure that the present one is around next year.

[Highland Logan]

A new thing in Canada is a dimwitted "peace group" that sells white coloured "peace" poppies to counteract the "prowar" red ones, or at least tries to. I don't follow their show any more either.

This is not as new as you think. It was been on the news in the Maritimes for a couple of years now. It was started by a British group, the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933.

Frank

[Lallans]

This is not as new as you think. It was been on the news in the Maritimes for a couple of years now. It was started by a British group, the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933.

Frank

I had read that. At the time I was thinking that they should all wear white feathers instead of white poppies. My thought was that, nasty contrarians that they are, they would be the same sort of people who were handing out white feathers back in the day. I guess that I'm taking all this personally, on behalf of slain family members.

[Mike_Oettle]

The people who handed out white feathers often got it wrong, anyway.
A man my father knew well (they served as officers in the same regiment) had a glass eye (his name was Dennis), and every time he went to volunteer he failed his medical.
One day he was in a pharmacy waiting to be served while two female assistants chatted away, ignoring him. Eventually he asked: “What do I have to do to get some service here?”
And one of them turned to him and demanded: “Where’s your white feather, you coward?”
In response he took out his glass eye and placed it on the counter. The girl fainted.
After that he went again to sign up, and this time when asked to cover his right eye, he put up his right hand. Asked to cover his left eye, he put up his left hand – but the examiner didn’t notice that he was covering the same eye each time.
This time he was accepted. He went into uniform and eventually was sent on an officer cadet course. Nobody noticed his deformity until the night before the passing-out parade.
Then a group of army doctors (all drunk) decided late in the evening that it was time for a medical exam of all the candidates. One of them walked right up to Dennis and poked him in the eye with a pen – discovering that it was glass.
The medics were now in panic mode, because they had examined Dennis and not noticed this before. But after a long consultation with the other senior officers it was decided that because Dennis had managed to get this far without being discovered, he had earned the right to take part in the parade.
And that is how a man with a glass eye was an officer in the Royal Natal Carbineers.
Regards,
Mike