Nina's Blog - Sunday 22nd February 2026
Sunday 22nd February 2026, 19:53
Just finished tidying up after our usual Sunday. The streusel was a success and the banana tea bread is untouched! That means that there is cake for snacks for most of the week.
We watched Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman as Churchill. My goodness what a performance. Not just from Oldman but the rest of the cast, the direction, and the cinematography
I'm glad we were watching it in the dark so that it was not quite so obvious how affected I was.
But, there is always a but. I felt that it was not mere entertainment.
I wonder if the current generation really understands the danger we are all in just now. People of my generation have almost lived out our lives without a general war in Europe but I think most people my age and older are aware that this is an unusual state of affairs. I wonder if those who are thirty years younger, many of whom have no living relatives or acquaintances who lived through it, really appreciate how horrifying it really was, and could be.
I don't have any direct experience of wartime being born in 1955 but rationing only ended the year before I was born and my father was conscripted into the RAF. He never saw active service but still there is a more obvious connection with war on the home front than most people born a generation later have. Of course I didn't think about these things as I was growing up, there was a general air of optimism and forward thinking, at least where I grew up.
But now I, and my little family, live in a country which is taking small steps to prepare for war with Russia, has declared its willingness to defend the Danish Realm, and in which the DSB (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap, The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection) has as the most prominent text on the front page of its web site this:
My translation:
It was a great film but it has left me feeling a little less optimistic.
Just finished tidying up after our usual Sunday. The streusel was a success and the banana tea bread is untouched! That means that there is cake for snacks for most of the week.
We watched Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman as Churchill. My goodness what a performance. Not just from Oldman but the rest of the cast, the direction, and the cinematography
I'm glad we were watching it in the dark so that it was not quite so obvious how affected I was.
But, there is always a but. I felt that it was not mere entertainment.
I wonder if the current generation really understands the danger we are all in just now. People of my generation have almost lived out our lives without a general war in Europe but I think most people my age and older are aware that this is an unusual state of affairs. I wonder if those who are thirty years younger, many of whom have no living relatives or acquaintances who lived through it, really appreciate how horrifying it really was, and could be.
I don't have any direct experience of wartime being born in 1955 but rationing only ended the year before I was born and my father was conscripted into the RAF. He never saw active service but still there is a more obvious connection with war on the home front than most people born a generation later have. Of course I didn't think about these things as I was growing up, there was a general air of optimism and forward thinking, at least where I grew up.
But now I, and my little family, live in a country which is taking small steps to prepare for war with Russia, has declared its willingness to defend the Danish Realm, and in which the DSB (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap, The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection) has as the most prominent text on the front page of its web site this:
Totalforsvarsåret 2026
Regjeringen har besluttet at 2026 skal være et Totalforsvarsår. Det overordnede målet er å styrke Norges evne til å forebygge og håndtere sikkerhetspolitiske kriser og krig.
Regjeringen har besluttet at 2026 skal være et Totalforsvarsår. Det overordnede målet er å styrke Norges evne til å forebygge og håndtere sikkerhetspolitiske kriser og krig.
My translation:
Total defence 2026
The government has decided that 2026 shall be a Total Defence Year. The principal aim is to strengthen Norway's ability to prepare for and handle security related crises and war.
The government has decided that 2026 shall be a Total Defence Year. The principal aim is to strengthen Norway's ability to prepare for and handle security related crises and war.
It was a great film but it has left me feeling a little less optimistic.
61-69, T
