Man, I'm tired! I had hoped to finish off the edits for The Bunyip before midnight last night, but ended up finishing at 12:15 :) I got up at 6am as usual, far from bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; I'm definitely not a morning person.
I got an email from one of my first readers basically saying the story had improved out of sight, so that's a good sign. Next up I'll let the Critters have a go at it and with a bit of luck it'll be ready for submission in another month or so. I have thought of a snappier title, but I'll wait until I've submitted the story before I reveal it (I don't want to jinx it!). btw as you'll see on the Projects page, the word count for this one jumped up by 1,300 words - I had to substantially bulk up a scene or two :)

Soon after writing my journal entry on the WW2 reenactment, my wife reminded me of a surreal incident that took place during the village battle. I'd completely forgotten about it until she mentioned it!

The incident occurred after the 'German generals' and village security staff ushered the spectators behind a roped-off area, making sure the village was clear for the reenactors. We saw several people wandering around or heading toward the makeshift grub-joint (ie where the caterers were) for a late lunch, but they were quickly escorted to the spectator area.

Somehow a guy and his two kids had managed to elude security and were busy setting up for lunch at the tables behind the grub-joint. It looked like they were being told to move (or maybe to stay put?), but they didn't. By now the Allied forces had begun rushing the village from the field and were streaming through the streets, exchanging fire with the Germans.

Within minutes, the guy and his kids were surrounded by reenactors taking up positions all around them (even among the tables), firing past them at the Germans. Big deal you might say, they were using blanks. Well, I'm sure they were in no danger, but you can bet it would've been awfully noisy! The kids seemed unperturbed by the whole thing (from our vantage-point anyway), which I thought was quite interesting. With all the noise and spent cartridges flying through the air, I would've expected at least some concern. I guess they just figured they were safe where they were.

This surreal event made me think about the whole reenactment thing and how strange it really is. I liken it to a kind of heavy-action live theatre, with the (re-en)actors presumably following some general behaviour to give a decent level of realism to the proceedings. I'd be interested to hear from some re-enactors about how everything is staged and coordinated. The whole thing just seemed very well done, but I couldn't tell whether it was mostly improvised or was actually carefully choreographed (I expect some combination thereof).

In my journal entry, I made a comment about the reenactment presenting a rather sanitized view of war. In light of the surreal event I mentioned above, I think it is interesting how desensitized to violence people are today. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid, especially the reenactors. Still, I guess the show must go on, whether spectators get in the way or not. The reenactment may have been bloodless and unrealistic in many respects, but the historic battles they were depicting certainly were not. What was once unimaginable horror for our war veterans has been turned into entertainment for the masses. I probably come off sounding like I'm against the whole reenactment thing - I'm not, but I do think we need to remember that such events go beyond mere entertainment and into the realm of education. They serve as a reminder for future generations that war is not glamorous or 'cool' (I heard this word a lot at the reenactment) and seek to convey at least some impression of what things would've been like for a soldier on the battlefield. Sadly it seems that many people, at the end of the day, just take away the entertainment aspect.

So whaddaya think? Am I just ranting about nothing or do I have some valid points?