If you were pressure-washing your car...

[somelemons]

...on Remembrance Sunday, and you looked up and saw all your neighbours in the entire street standing outside their houses observing the two-minute silence at 11am, would you:

A - stop what you are doing and join in?

B - stop what you are doing, out of respect for your neighbours, and go indoors for a few minutes, and carry on washing your car later?

C - carry on blasting away at your alloy wheels and ruining the silence for everyone?

Guess what my neighbour did this morning?

Every man or woman for themselves, is that it?

Do whatever you damn well please, and not give a shit about anyone else?

Is that the low that this country has sunk to? Judging by some of the responses on here, clearly yes.

Do whatever you damn well please, and not give a shit about anyone else?

As long as what you are doing falls within and approved set of rules though, eh? It isn’t at all unkind to make posts on the internet whinging about those not following your set of rules? And likely to tattle with the neighbours about it, roll your eyes and make sure all of you understand that him at nr 5, next to the public path that definitely runs off the edge of the small quiet cul-de-sac, him with the jet wash that made all that noise whilst we were trying to be so respectful and honourable, he’s just not good enough, he isn’t “our” people.

In those circumstances it’s ok not to give a shit about others, yeah?

Get out of the wrong side of bed this morning, did we?

Easier to be rude than to actually address the question, eh?

Why are you asking me?

I chose to go out and do the two minutes silence with the DC in their scouting uniform - other neighbours chose not to. It's life isn't it - not everyone attends church on Remembrance Sunday, we always have, doesn't make us better or more respectful than others. Not something worth getting hurt or upset over.

Whilst it wouldn't be my thing to stand in the street, the fact that it was a thing to do this year instead of going to services was well publicised by councils, community groups, churches, charities, scouts etc etc.

I always do the 2 minutes on the 11th and I went to outdoor services with scout dc when they were younger.

I might not have remembered on Sunday but when I saw the neighbours out I'd have stopped washing the car and either went indoors or joined in.

I find it best to keep my side of the street clean
(wc motto)

We did it, but saw no one else doing it at all, which surprised me, but doesn't bother me.

But this reminds me of one year I was in M&S on the 11th. I was just paying when the till went down and lights went off.
We thought there was a power cut and she apologised I said, no matter and she went to put a call through to ask how long it was likely to be out for... When the tanoy crackled, lights came back on and a voice said "this is the end of the two minute silence"
We both felt really bad. We'd known it was 11th, but hadn't occurred to us that it was the 2 minute silence, she'd even been told it would be observed that morning,, and no one else said anything either.
Now they announce the beginning as well as the end, which is much mire sensible.

It just shows that he has total contempt for the feelings of his local community.

The silence was to remember the war dead, not to make your local community feel special. He may observe in his own way, less publicly - he wasn’t commenting on your community feeling, he was going about his day.

I think the whole point of the two minutes silence is to remember the sacrifices that others have made with their lives in order that we can have the freedom to take the two minutes and remember them.

Two minutes out of a whole year isn’t much. It seems very selfish to not honour the sacrifices that others made for us.

I appreciate that others may have their own ways of remembering the fallen but we seem to spend our lives trying to bend rules these days. Can’t we just stand for two minutes on silence without it turning into some kind of competition. Be it about keeping up with the Jones about who stood and who didn’t, or trying to come up with reasons why people shouldn’t have to do such a thing as take a whole two minutes out of a year.

It’s only two minutes. Although this year armistice day falls on a Wednesday so if you want to honour them you have another opportunity to do so at 11am tomorrow.