'Our home is girt by sea'.

So....I ended up back at Sunnybank for 'respite' time .....I know...but we did really need some milk and tissues and Dulcie wanted sliced beetroot and avocados.I went for a wander around the mall....for exercise, you know.... and found myself walking through the middle of  Remembrance Service there in the centre of the mall...."Lest we forget" said some man into his microphone.I had forgotten.I carried on and was suddenly consumed by guilt....I didn't even have a poppy.I turned round and went back and stood with the rest of the crowd that had gathered.Wing Ling Hoo read the poem 'On Flanders Field'.A woman sidled up and slipped me an order of service....just in time for 'The Ode'."They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them.""We will remember them" we all said.It was followed by the 'Last Post'.It always gets me and even here in the middle of Sunnybank shopping mall I got a lump in my throat. TheThen came the 1 minute silence.....thank goodness I hadn't been walking through at that  moment!At the end of the minute silence someone flicked a switch and the Australian National Anthem came on.Eek! I covered my mouth with my order of service....I knew the tune but not the words.I pretended I was singing behind my paper by moving my mouth to the tune.I thought I knew one bit and sang,"From sea to shining sea"....only that is from the American National Anthem and in the Australian National Anthem the line is,"Our home is girt by sea." Doh!I noticed I wasn't the only one having trouble....most of the other people near by didn't know the words either except when it came to'Advance Australia Fair.....(la la la la la la la la) .....Advance Australia Fair!"The service ended and I went up and bought a poppy......$2........not a bad price for freedom.The poppy's here are so much nicer than the ones in the UK...well, apart form those ceramic ones at The Tower of London......much more realistic.....and not paper and plastic.(I left it upstairs and can't be bothered going back up now to get it so I can put a photo of it on here....I'll do it later...it is after midnight here now.)I need to learn the Australian National Anthem.Here it is.....you can learn it too:Australians all let us rejoice,For we are young and free;We've golden soil and wealth for toil;Our home is girt by sea;Our land abounds in nature's giftsOf beauty rich and rare;In history's page,let every stageAdvance Australia Fair.In joyful strains then let us sing,Advance Australia Fair.