Charles Christian's Words & Vision

Seen at the seaside - born again bikers - the zimmerframe years

Charles Christian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:15:20 +0000

Something for Remembrance Day

Charles Christian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:44:36 +0000

This is a prose piece + a haiga – a haigun maybe?

Lieutenant Joseph Phillips’ lonely memorial

One day, driving down a Norfolk byway, I spotted this lonely, neglected wooden cross, silhouetted against a country skyline. I asked a neighbour. He said it was erected to mark the place where a cornered German bomber pilot, shot-down during World War Two, had been beaten to death by angry locals before he could be rescued by the authorities. Intrigued, as this was the first I’d heard of any Luftwaffe pilot suffering such a fate in the UK, I did a little research. The truth wasn’t hard to find. This was no guilty memorial to a hapless Nazi but a cross to mark the site where a Canadian pilot had crashed in 1917, after steering his stricken plane clear of the nearby town of Harleston. By his efforts he saved lives that day. By his efforts, he lost own. Fatally wounded, he a few hours later. And so it comes down to this: within the space of three generations, a hero’s honest death reduced to a forgotten, crumbling cross and a muddied, muddled memory.

Postcards from Aldeburgh

Charles Christian — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:10:59 +0000

Here are some other photos – and comments – I took while in Aldeburgh over the weekend.

http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2009/11/9/4376285.html

Saying goodbye to Aldeburgh for another year

Charles Christian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:52:32 +0000

Final reports – well almost

http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2009/11/8/4375335.html

Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Update - and there's more...

Charles Christian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:16:19 +0000

Here's another update from the Aldeburgh Festival front...

http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2009/11/8/4375064.html