Training

For reference purposes, it may be interesting to note that the times attached to these posts are North American, and not the time at which I am posting in France.

Update: Today I heard a French man say "ah-la-la."

Training was a whirlwind. Despite the uncomfortable half-days spent sitting in a very cold hall in the middle of a tiny French village learning about military and the first world war, it was quite interesting. Excursions out and about to cemetaries and different parts of the Western Front were the best part.

Two British chaps were responsible for our training. The first, Nigel, is an author and expert on all things related to the Great War and the Western front in particular. Incidentally, he is also a member of an unknown (that is, unknown to me) Catholic order, and lives primarily in Rome. He is often heard saying in a rather dry tone: "Oh joy, oh rapture, oh minor ecstasy." Or, should you ask why he lives in Rome (does he work for the Vatican?), he might reply: "Because, my dear, the poor unhappy Italians need me." A little wierd? Yes.

The other chap is mainly known to us as "The Colonel." His name is Philip and he is a retired member of the Royal Engineers as well as a member of the Durand Group. The Durand Group is an organization of expert volunteers who work around the Canadian war memorials investigating the unexplored tunnels and mines from the Great War. From time to time they discover huge undetonated mines and disarm them. Though all members are experts in their respective fields, they are generally, it seems to me, a rather motley crew of people who study maps and poke around in the woods just to see what sorts of danger they can unearth. Apparently, the Colonel was on Tony Blair's anti-terrorism advisory committee just after 9-11.

The Colonel can be seen here showing us a spot in the forest where the ground has given way into a German tunnel which was below (danger is literally everywhere in these woods), and pointing out some feature or other in the trenches.