Cemeteries and Railways

I had a few hours to spare yesterday evening and went for a run before SES training.  This time, essentially a large loop around the northern outskirts of Tatura.  I'm really coming to love running here: the terrain is dead flat and the drivers give runners plenty of room.

 

 

This particular loop took me up past the cemetery.  I've often heard quoted the epitaph that says "I was as you are now; as I am now, so shall you be".  This little memento mori gave me an extra kick of speed and encouragement in the afternoon sunlight.  I like to think that the people who are sleeping in that cemetery would like the idea of someone running by.  Tatura, like many country towns, is passionate about its sport.  Granted, the popular sports tend to be football and netball in winter and cricket in summer rather than athletics, but somehow I don't think they'd mind.

 

 

I also ran past the Tatura German Military Cemetery (Deutsche Kriegsgraberstatte Tatura).  Tatura was the site of a number of camps for German nationals who were interned in Australia during the First World War, and for German internees and Prisoners-of-War during the Second World War.  The Cemetery is where the ones are buried who did not live to the end of hostilities.  It's a hard thing for people to die so far from home.

 

On that note, a friend I had in the Before Time once commented that his father had fought at the Battle of El Alamein.  One of my family was also there, and so I casually asked "oh yeah?  Out of interest, who was he with?  Australian Ninth Division?  British Eigth Army?).  Err, no: actually, with the umpteenth Panzer Division.  Okey-dokey: he was on the other side... Moving right along!

 

 

 

Turning onto the long leg of the loop brought me across the Toolamba-Echuca railway line.  I love how the signs for the railway still use an image of a steam train.  It's kind of appropriate in a way.  The line is used only sporadically.

 

As I went down Pykes Road I could feel my pace and spirits picking up.  Work has been a bit of a drag lately and while I was running I started feeling strong and ferocious again.  I was going well enough to decide to tack another couple of kilometres onto the run, a decision I regretted not at all.

 

Going for this run was a great idea: I haven't felt that good for a while!