Just in case you have totally lost track of the days, this is a reminder that tomorrow, Friday, is a Bank Holiday.

EYE will be enjoying the long weekend and we hope that you will also be able to make the most of it.

We shall be publishing again on Monday.

Tomorrow, Friday May 8th, is VE Day – the marking of the day in 1945 when the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the German forces and hostilities in Europe came to an end after five, very long years of war.

It was Victory in Europe but the fighting went on in the Far East for several more months before America brought it to an end by dropping the atom bombs on Japan.

Commemorations on this VE Day will be far more muted than planned but perhaps the relative peace of the lockdown will give us the opportunity to quietly reflect on what it took, back then, to achieve the defeat of tyranny.

And to recognise that the victory came at the cost of the incalculable pain and loss suffered by the combatants and the civilians.

It is said that war is futile but, regretably, sometimes it is the only option, and for all its terrible destruction it also creates outstanding examples of heroism, and sacrifice.

At a time when the entire world is engaged in a war of a very different kind – but one which also brings its own dreadful share of pain and loss, heroism and sacrifice – we should acknowledge and remember all those who endured the long period of the second world war, no matter on whose side they happened to be.

Perhaps our experiences today in a world gripped by the pandemic give us a tiny glimpse of what people went through between 1939 and 1945.

We can understand something of their yearning for the horrors to end and sense the relief they must have felt when it was all over.

We too will give thanks and celebrate when this, our war, is done.

As we mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day,  EYE wishes you all, good health and peace.