Today I had the pleasure of meeting some of our most remarkable residents. 

At the Portslade service, then Hove, and finally the Jewish Reform Synagogue, I got to stand alongside people who served our country at times of war.

This year I noticed more emotion than previously. Several veterans were in tears as they told me not only about their experiences serving our country, but how in recent times old age had taken the lives of friends they served shoulder to shoulder with in circumstances few of us will ever comprehend. 

Grief is painful and lonely, so it was with an extremely heavy heart that I listened to the thoughts and experiences these extraordinary people endured in their youth and the burden they continue to carry into their later years. 

I stopped in on the Portslade Royal British Legion at lunchtime and caught up with Ray and George, stalwarts of Portslade remembrance, and their families. George told me about his holiday on the Rhine River where he and his wife Pam took Legion crosses to place at graveyards along route that are the last resting place of British soldiers. It shows how our veterans carry the weight of their sacrifice with them even on holiday. 

As I write this I’m sitting with a friend waiting for a curry to arrive. After spending the day with our remarkable veterans, simple pleasures like this seem a little more special. All the best, Peter