The poppies at the Tower of London

I had been really wanting to go and see the poppies at the Tower of London, but wanted to wait until they were all finally in place. I knew the final poppy was going to be placed on Remembrance Day itself but realized the whole area was going to be massively crowded so decided to go the day before. On the day after the poppies would start being removed so Monday the 10th seemed the optimum time to go. Needless to say it was still crowded - apparently several million people have been to pay their respects already.

I had grandfathers on both sides of the family who were there in the trenches in the First World War - fortunately both survived so I'm glad to say that none of the millions of poppies in the moat of the Tower of London today represent their lives. Many weren't so lucky. Walking round the outside of the moat to view all the poppies takes some time because of the crowds - this makes it a more moving and thought provoking experience...

A rainbow over the poppies - a sign of hope?

One of the Tower's famous Ravens.

 It takes time to take in the sheer scale of it all.

Due to the crowds it took so long to work my way round the outside of the moat that it was getting dark before I finished - plenty of time to reflect that each individual poppy presents a life taken... It was certainly a memorable experience and I'm glad I made the effort to get down there.