23 years

About thirty people turned up for the peace vigil. It reminded me of the Peace Group in Hamburg I belonged to in the early 80s. As today, we had stood in a silent circle to protest war. I tried to remember which war it would have been that we were protesting in the early 80s, but there have been so many and I couldn't recall which it would have been.

Afterwards as we sat at The Lamb drinking beer or grapefruit juice we exchanged stories. One young man, Barnaby, said that he had a special feeling for Lebanon as he had lived there as a child. His father was a graphic designer doing a contract there and the family had intended staying in Lebanon as it seemed like a vibrant place to live. But war broke out. He said remembered waiting for a school bus when the bombing started one day. There was noone else about. He was scared waiting for the bus and then a hedgehog shuffled across the road and stood next to him.

I asked him which year that would have been and he replied '1982'.
Then I remembered which war it was we had protested in Hamburg in the early 80s. That was 23 years ago.