6 June 2

In the evening, Audrey and I attended the Beating Retreat, which is a performance of military bands and Horse Guards focusing upon drums, fifes, and cornets.  The British contingent included a cadet Core of Drums, their regular band of the Household Division Core of Drums, The Band of the Grenadier Guards, The Band of the Coldstream Guards, The Band of the Scots Guards, The Band of the Royal Yeomanry, the Honorable Artillery Company,  The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra, The Band of the Welsh Guards, The Band of the Irish Guards, and the Band of Royal Choral Society.

The United Arab Emirates' Band and Pipes, the United States Army Europe Band, and the Horse Guards of both the U.K. and Jordan were part of the show as well.  It was terrifically exciting to see the Jordanian Arabian horses run in and a rider slice a watermelon in two with a curved scimitar, then another shoot off a gun in the air.  Here's a picture of them:

The other horses were the Irish Black warmbloods, very calm indeed.  The Household Division's drum horses were a draft breed called the Shire, closely related to the Clydesdales.  I couldn't believe how still the horses were, except for the drum major's, who stepped in time to the music when they stopped and played!  You may be wondering what a "Beating Retreat" is.  In the previous several centuries, near dusk, the corps drummer would beat a certain song or rhythm, which meant it was time to retreat back to camp and rest for the night.  He beat the retreat.  The rules of warfare had this code of resting at night, and WW1 was one of the first major conflicts where troops did not cease fighting during the night, due to the German Starshells, which lit up the battlefields (and better radio communications helped as well).  Still, with fog and rain common, the corps drummers and/or pipers would give signals to the troops on the front lines.  The horse drum was still in use at the beginning of the war.

Here I am next to one of the two Horse Guards, who sit with their swords resting on their shoulders as they guard the entrance.   This horse kept wanting me to pet him, which is allowed.  He stood perfectly still for at least 30 minutes.  His coat was as spotless as the guard's uniform.  The gold was blinding.

At the end of the show, Royal Scots bagpiper played, "Last Post" as he stood on the monument to those fallen during WW1.  Here's a daytime picture of the monument, just across the street from the Horse Guards' Parade.

I saw many monuments around town with commemorative red poppies, like those on the left-most wreath here.  The piper played right next to it at 9:45, as darkness fell complete.  So sombre.