Omaha Beach

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This was one of the key points of my "America in WWII" trip. For many of them it would have been the high point of the grand crusade and everyone there must have been in a high state of emotion.

But for all too many, it was both the high and low point in one.

The sculpture stands on the empty sands and is called "Les Braves". I released a book nearby - "The Longest Da".

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I'm finding all sorts of little snippets of movie from my camera. None of them terribly impressive - mostly to get a sense of place in a way that a photograph or panorama cannot do.

There's a memorial service on nearby Anzac Parade to mark the battle of Long Tan (one of our infantry companies took on a Vietcong battalion and saw them off) and the place has been buzzing with choppers, roads blocked off and so on.

If I step outside I can hear every word of the speeches. Once upon a time I would have drunk this in, but it's been 22 years since I was last in military uniform, and I've stopped caring quite so much.

Watched a new show on TV last night. It's a talk show, but the twist is that the host is a cartoon character. The guests interact with the character in real time, often on the same screen. Of course, it's a bit of a cheat, because what they are doing is capturing the movements and expressions of a human and then rendering them onto an animation frame, but the interesting bit is that it is being done in real time. Live, for all I know.

Twenty odd years ago I considered this sort of thing, when computers were barely able to draw a smiley face. Another twenty years and where will we be?

A sunny afternoon

This was a total surprise. I'd expected St Malo in Brittany to be a grey old port city, and it was, for the most part. But when I dropped my hire car off and checked in my bags for the ferry crossing to Guernsey, I had a few hours before my evening departure, and I looked over to the other side of the port and there was this grand old walled city.

I bought myself a baguette and soft drink with the last of my Euros and wandered around the walls. It was picturesque plus. A delightful afternoon and I must return one day with Kerri, who will be as delighted as I was.

St Malo

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