大象传媒

Since we moved to Birmingham, UK, I have been writing a weekly blog (www.gyspyteacher.blogspot.com) to tell my fellow Americans back home about our experiencing relocating. This is the blog I wrote about the British election and the VE Day 60th anniversary celebrations in Birmingham. I am including it here because it is also about my mom and dad during World War II. Thanks.

Decisions

My Irish husband Tony was eligible to vote in this most recent British election. As a European Union citizen signed up for National Insurance, he received a poll card in the mail. No need to register or have his signature on file. He stopped by the 100-year-old church at the end of our road and placed his X by鈥ell, it鈥檚 a secret ballot.
The knowledge that he would help choose our Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham North, gave Tony a feeling of empowerment. He watched the news with more interest, treating his choice as a momentous decision. I never saw him vote in Ireland, and he lived in the US for 10 years before even applying for citizenship.
To no one鈥檚 surprise we awoke the next day to a Labour majority, a Conservative re-appraisal of their losing strategy, and a thrilled third party, Charles Kennedy鈥檚 Lib Dems, who did better than even the exit polls predicted. The full news coverage continued all morning as Labour leader Tony Blair, along with his attorney-wife, Cherie, was driven to Buckingham Palace to be asked by the Queen to form a government. It was his 52nd birthday; the same day as my Dad鈥檚.
On arrival back at 10 Downing Street, the only Labour PM ever elected for a third term faced the microphones. With his family loyally lined up on the doorstep a ways behind him, he looked alone. He sounded humbled. He spoke of what he had learnt by meeting face-to-face with voters throughout the UK, referred to as his 鈥渕asochist strategy.鈥� Lacking his usual glibness, Blair kept repeating, 鈥淚, we, the government鈥︹�� He appeared frightened. Had the enormity of what he had been working towards for the past four weeks鈥攖he past eight years鈥攂egun to sink in? Was he finally taking in this momentous responsibility for making decisions that affect millions of lives?
After he repeated the points of the well-known Labour five-year plan, the shiny black door with the big number 10 opened. The youngest Blair, Leo, the surprise baby born with the millennium, came out to join the family for the third photo to mark the start of a Blair Prime Ministership.
By coincidence the election ended just as the V-E Day 60th anniversary celebrations began. The airwaves and newspapers were filled with interviews of anyone still breathing who remembers when the war in Europe ended. So Tony and I headed into downtown Birmingham to take part in the festivities.
We arrived a little late, so missed out on the food you could get with complimentary 鈥渞ation cards鈥� that were handed out. The crowd was a sea of Brits, young and old (mostly old), sporting Union Jack bowler hats and flags. In front of the big stage in Centenary Square, two old comedians were singing, 鈥淲ho Do You Think You鈥檙e Kidding Mr. Hitler?鈥� The oldest vets, in wheelchairs or using canes, were telling their stories to anyone who would listen. Some people came dressed in uniforms or vintage clothes from 1945.
Look, over there. That man reminds me of my Dad. He actually spent some time in London during his four years in Europe with the US 2nd Armored Division (鈥淗ell on Wheels鈥�). And that woman, with the dark upswept hair and round face. She looks just like my mother. She spent those four years working in Pittsburgh, waiting for her new husband to come home so they could start a family.
Like a lot of American couples, they got married a few months after Pearl Harbor, on my Dad鈥檚 first leave. Tony and I got married a few months after September 11th. How much does insecurity on the world stage affect our decisions? How much will Tony Blair鈥檚 decisions affect our lives now?
As the crowd broke up, I tried to find a discarded bowler or flag we could take home. But hardly any souvenirs were left lying around; the British are really anal-retentive. On our way to the bus stop, Tony spotted a plastic flag lying on the ground, and rescued it for me. When we got home, we turned on the memorial concert broadcast live from Trafalgar Square and danced along to 鈥淚鈥檒l Be Seeing You in All the Old Familiar Places.鈥� Just like my parents had, 60 years ago.

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