Steffe
Balaclava Day
Balaclava is such a lovely word. It might not be as sweet as baklava, or as wobbly as baba ganouj (alright that’s two words), but nonetheless balaclava sounds as comforting as baby-talk. Yes Balaclava sounds musical until the moment it triggers those memories of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson; because during the Crimean War, a war so long ago that everyone except historians might have forgotten it, there was a Battle of Balaklava.
Afterwards Tennyson wrote “The Charge of the Light Brigade” a poem about the bravery of cavalry soldiers who blindly obeyed orders in that battle, orders which turned out to be a bit foolhardy. For a terribly long time after that, young minds learning English Literature, were required to read his poem. Decades on, I’m afraid that I can still quote chunks of it. But still, Balaclava is such a lovely word.
And I’m sure if you were to go to Balaklava today, (today it’s a bit chilly with clouds and some sun) you would look out over the inlet, climb to view the clifftop ruins of a fourteenth century Genoese fortress, and then you’d marvel over the massive soviet underground nuclear submarine station, because it seems that for as long as there’s been people living in Balaklava it has had some strategic, military significance. Arguably only two good things have come out of that; a Romantic poem about senseless death, and a far more practical face covering designed for soldiers, such as the one which Stefan is wearing here, in order to cycle out to his tree.
Note: I know a five year old boy who calls them freezing ninja masks, I never correct him.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Rachel Irving and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
