Saturday, April 25, 2015

Dawn Service

The 4am alarm jangled me out of my deepest of slumbers.  I was dreaming of getting into a fist fight over who was first in line to be sitting in a grandstand.  I had my ticket in my hand when a guy cut the line and I told him to get back to the end of the line... in the dream, he punch me.  I was about to take my swing and punch him back when the whole grandstand collapsed! As it did my alarm woke me.

It was dark outside and I nearly didn't get out of bed.  But I had to. It was ANZAC Day. Quickly I got dressed in the bathroom, grabbed my phone, my shoes, brushed my hair and put on my make-up and perfume. 

By 4:30am, I was out the door and quietly driving out of the unit complex.

I was the only one to do this.

Sad really - isn't it?

I arrived at Logan Diggers on Blackwood Road at 4:45am and found a parking spot easily.  Police were out in force (there were around 10 police cars parked everywhere), 3 ambulances, SES workers and Army personnel as well as Army Cadets.  Yes, the place was packed!

The public were filling up a metal grandstand nearby and I sat on the lowest-most seat I could find; as I don't like heights.  We watched the preparations in the darkness as people grabbed tea and coffee and milled around; as the grandstand filled up, as the road and surrounding footpaths filled up too.

Then, I looked down at my phone as the grandstand move! 

Without a second thought I jumped off and walked away! A feeling of deja vu crept over me as people on the grandstand quickly filed off and SES workers started looking it over with torches.  Within 10 minutes, they pulled tape across it advising people to not sit on it; that it was unsafe.  

The dream I had glimpsed only an hour or so before had come back to haunt me just a little... I really didn't want to look at the grandstand.  And I didn't tell anyone about my dream this morning; they would have laughed at me.

The ceremony was amazing.  There was a Haka, 3 National Anthems, The Last Post, wreaths laid down and The Lord's Prayer was said.  We even sang 'God Save the Queen' without music; which was quite an accomplishment when you think of how long it's been out of the curriculum since the early 1980's.  I even scored a lovely program from a Vietnam Vet who raced around and made sure every last person received a program... man, did that guy have some energy!

I went inside to have a Gunfire Breakfast and ended up sitting with some lovely people and chatting to them for the morning before coming home at around 7:30am to post my photos online.

What a Dawn Service.  I will most certainly do this again next year... seeing how many people showed for this one - the Centenary of World War One - I'm sure we are going to commemorate the ANZAC's even more as the years go by.

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