Grandma's army

Have just returned from a family visit to London. It was at the tail end of a two month heat wave and drought, and didn’t look like the England I had known. I couldn’t help thinking of the most popular song, or hymn, written by William Blake in 1804, that I still remembered from my school days.   To quote the final verse in this epic poem -   which is considered by many to be the English unofficial national anthem: “I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In England’s green & pleasant Land.” The phrase "green and pleasant land" has become a common term for an identifiably English landscape and society . The landscape I knew and loved was damp and green. The one which greeted me on arrival was dry and brownish.   As far as “ society ” is concerned, England is certainly a far cry from what it was in Blake’s day. I thought the newspapers would be a refreshing change from the news we get in ...

The dynamics of “grandma’s army” is continuing to thrive, although I have been caught up in other matters in the last few weeks. Last Wednesday another granddaughter joined the Israeli forces - as an army instructor. The   job of army instructors is to train soldiers on every piece of equipment used in army warfare. For example: machine guns, sniper guns, armoured vehicles, mines, every type of missile ,etc. I understand that each instructor is trained to teach a specific type of equipment, both theoretically and in the field. Adi is only 19 years old and some of the soldiers she will be teaching (from the Reserves) will be old enough to be her father. She is at present going through basic training and will then begin to learn   her particular field of instruction.   Adi still has one brother (Memi) in the army, who is now in the process of becoming an officer. He has been serving in the same special unit for one-and-a-half years and still has quite a long way t...