Our day for visiting the poppies at the tower of London. It's a magnificent display - 888,246 ceramic poppies in an installation called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. There is one poppy for each British and Commonwealth military death in the First World War. One therefore for my Scots grandfather's young brother who died in France. At 4:55 pm a bugler plays the Last Post and names from the Roll of Honour are read, but truthfully it's difficult enough to get anywhere near the moat at any time. There are official suggestions re routes other than the obvious, and at Tower Hill tube station the exit gates are left open as the crowds surge through.
It's a very moving sight, and a quietly respectful throng, from infants to the elderly, all paying tribute as well as seeing the beauty. The poppies fill the moat and reach past Traitors' Gate with a particular poignancy, ablood red reminder of the many brought here to be executed, often for having chosen the wrong side to champion.
