1066 and All What??

Veterans' Day found me at one of the golf courses here in SeniorLand. I had signed up for a group golf lesson--Johnny the Grip was going to walk a group of us through some of the basics while we actually played at the game-you know that game--hit ball(most of the time) advance ball, wave 3 foursomes through, pick up ball and start again at next hole. That very same game.

While waiting I struck up a conversation with 3 Brits(Reggie, Reggie, and Ol' Reggie) who were telling stories about WWII. They spoke of being in Egypt and France as though it had happened just last week. There was no bragging, no navel gazing, just matter-of-fact recounting what had to be horrendous times in their young lives. None of them had been in the Pacific so I volunteered that I had been born at Pearl Harbor. At this glad piece of news one of them leapt out of his golf cart, grabbed me around the waist and proceeded to dance me around the pro shop! I think it might have been the best dance of my life--we didn't miss a step and surely turned heads as we spun and waltzed around the building.

This, of course, lead to a more detailed discussion of war topics and we got onto the topic of who had been the last English king to go into battle. I maintained Richard III(1452--1485) had been the last to lead his army into battle at Bosworth Field and Reggie One insisted it had been George II(1683--1760) at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. This eventually brought all 3 Reggies into the lively discussion. (Dettingen???? What is that??)

Of course Reggie One had been correct. Richard III had been the last English king to die in battle while George II lived through Dettingen. Ol' George II was also the last British monarch to be born outside of England. It's amazing the things one learns on the golf course.

Later that day I stopped by our little market and ran up a tab of $10.66. Still enlivened by the Richard vs. George discussion, I joked to the boy at the register that 1066 seemed a fitting tally for this Veterans' Day. He just looked at me as if I'd lost it. I tried again--"You know, 1066?" (Dull look) "Battle of Hastings?" (His eyes glazing over) "William the Conqueror? The beginning, in a way, of our own history?" Nothing, nada, zip.

What's that about being bound to repeat it?