What fresh hell is this? National VE day

[wetpants]

This has popped up on my local FB page, villagers are all up for it too. Apparently it’s a nationwide incentive??

The thing is, most front gardens are tiny or non existent here. There’s no way you could be 2m away from your next door. Also these villagers who are up for this are the same people who few weeks ago cried about a lone bloke sitting on a crass verge, well away from any pedestrians. How is this any different?

I’m not British (have lived here a long time though) so maybe I’m just not getting the fervent VE day misty eyeness

And don’t get me started on 9pm nationwide singalong WHO comes up with these things???

It's a bit fucking cringey and jingoistic isn't it. Watch Churchill and Queeny on the telly and then everyone out to their gardens for cake and a sing song. Probably with lashings of ginger beer and some good old fashioned Blitz rations.

We also live on a small cul-de-sac with space aplenty to host a little street party. We’ve also been doing socially distant bingo, quizzes, exercise classes etc. But then we do have lovely neighbours and this has brought out the very best in us as a community. The kids are really looking forward to it and will be something they will remember I’m sure. Not for everyone though depending on neighbours, proximity of houses, space etc.

jingoistic, i don't think the Nazis were open to a chat over a cup of tea.

I don't have the energy for this sort of thing at this point. Fine if others who are not worrying about their job, their children's education and the care of elderly relatives want to do something though.

Our whole road is doing this. I won't be.

As I stated on another thread, this VE Day commemoration is, in my opinion, a distraction in the time of Coronavirus.. However, it does reflect what I consider to be a national, unhealthy obsession with The War.

It is almost as if being on the 'winning' side of the conflict was the last great thing that Britain did. Maybe it was!

It’s for us older types who you sneer at for voting Brexit. If you trendy younger types don’t want to celebrate your freedom to do whatever you like then maybe you don’t deserve it

We will be talking to my mum who was actually a nurse in London on VE Day and managed to get a few hours off and go to Buckingham Palace. I think forced jollity now for millions who didn’t experience it is probably over the top and reconfirms our supposed superiority. We might have beaten the Germans in 1945 but they have fared better in the war against Covid19!

Except we don't currently have the freedom to do what we like. Oh the irony!

What Dollywilde said.

All of this assumes you have a front garden! Many live in flats, houses straight onto busy roads and have neighbours that are less than friendly. I may raise a glass to my grandparents but inside, we don't need this glorification of war, just remember the sacrifice in private

There is a very big difference between marking a silence for the fallen and appreciating their sacrifice and pretending that the war was ‘the good days’. Do you think my German friends will be sitting on their lawns in Munich doing this, or are we just doing it because we so fondly want to remember a time that we ‘won’ at something?

Lots of lovely xenophobia creeping into this thread -perhaps that's why I dislike enforced jingoistic shit like this. And, yes, this sort of mandatory nationalism is exactly why so many idiots wanted to 'get Brexit done'...

Hell no, not another social thing. Being unsociable, lockdown suits me (well, I would prefer to meet friends for the odd coffee) mostly, I can't understand why we need these doorstep sociable things. Fortunately I can hide away and ignore this sort of stuff. Since no-one does the clapping thing here anyway I doubt whether VE day will be a thing either...

Someone has leafletted our road about this. I might make DS2 climb up a ladder and put up the blue fairy lights to go with the red and white Christmas ones that are still up and hope no one notices I'm not joining in with anything else.

scones or cake? Only if made with dried egg.

I'll remember parents, aunts and uncles etc who were teens and young adults during the war, serving in various ways. They're all dead now, unsurprisingly. Very few people who can remember the war are likely to be living on anyone's street now, and even fewer will have been old enough to serve in it.

We might have beaten the Germans in 1945 but they have fared better in the war against Covid19!

Perhaps that's the 'victory in Europe' we should really be celebrating. The outcome was - unlike after WWI , a Europe which determined, 'never again'. A Europe which started to work together. A Germany which put its effort and expertise into manufacturing of useful products and its wealth into its health system?

Wouldn't it be better to save it for VJ Day, when WW2 actually ended?

You wouldn't be on here being miserable judgemental tossers if it wasn't for the fact we did win the war.

If you don't like it, can't do it/it makes you rage/what the hell ever, don't do it. It is pretty simple. However some on here just want to be seen as being superior.

If you trendy younger types don’t want to celebrate your freedom to do whatever you like then maybe you don’t deserve it
If you don’t see the irony in this statement there is no hope for you.

@Ponoka7 - you are right! I have just lost my grandma, aged 100. She would have been well up for this event as a former WAAF. I remember her tales with fondness.

This is one of those 'British stiff upper lip' and 'we'll meet again' moments more than people remembering Victory in Europe though. I doubt many of the younger generation have a clue what they are celebrating.

I think it's an awful idea.

Nobody will maintain 2 metres distancing - in most places with terraced housing it's impossible. It's just encouraging a large gathering of people under the pretence of "supporting lockdown".

I see it as celebrating peace.

Handful you can hardly compare the current lockdown to the loss of freedom during WW2.

@FluffyHippo 100% agree.

It’s good to read alternative view points

I come from a small country that fought for it’s independence. We also have an annual collection for the veterans (few remaining). My paternal GF served in the war.

I love living in here though and it’s truly my home. But I still see some aspects and issues from an outsider’s point of view. For instance all the NHS clapping and now this.

I have a lot of respect for UK and in my 20 years have contributed in many ways. I just don’t get all the do this and do that on your door step.