Large parade in the city today. Using discretion in my comments on it, given the Prime Directive, though there was a great deal of bonhomie about, especially for the older veterans in the back. The folks up front were marching with arms, and some very heavy machinery, so I entered "travelling neutral" mode. At one point, while I was wandering alongside, one of the old veterans called out "Hey, Indiana!" (I was wearing my tan traveller's hat.) I hoped he didn't take amiss the fact that I responded only with a smile and a nod -- no signs toward the marching columns, just observing. Just in the same manner as when I had to cross the paths of the marching students in Belgrade, I made sure to cross against the flow. Neutrality is a vanishing practice in the world -- given the 24 hour news cycle, everyone generally picks a side based on the information at hand -- and this has resulted in the loss of neutrality generally at the state level. The Alabama arbitrations after the American Civil War described a completely different world. But when armed forces are marching, I don't cheer or join in, I observe.
I cut through the city to the destination point, the large concrete complex built for the Olympics. there was a small band playing there, mostly marches unfamiliar to me, but at one point they broke out into a march time/ragtime "Hold that tiger". I watched the faces of the veterans and the recruits as they reached their destination, just like I used to stand across from St. Pat's and watch the faces of the marchers as they saw it. Marching in a parade is an event in someone's life, and as they reach the important place they were marching to, you can catch a bit of the glint of the soul in their eyes.
Most units marched down a set of stairs at the end of the concrete plaza, vanishing like the soldiers marching into the mountain in Kirosawa's Dreams. But they sent some of the units, including many of the older veterans, through the side door, and it was interesting watching these retired mobilized police officers (combatant status varied during the conflict, but given the way wars are generally fought here, that was largely a post hoc determination), who had clearly been out of uniform (and training) for many years, attempting to school one another on keeping the lines straight and heading in the right direction. Humans. Those sorts of Dogberry and Verges moments were perhaps my favorite part of the parade.
Afterwards, did a supply run. This is a good city for that, because unlike some other places, there are very good supply lines coming to it, and unlike some other other places, the prices are very reasonable. Some bits of the kit were were wearing very thin.
Opera last night (~$7, side balcony). My return to theatregoing in the Balkans. The opera was a new one, contemporary sung-through theatre, no breaking the gesamtewerke for aria applause, with only one or two exceptions. Orchestrations heavy, and basically equally weighted throughout. Score an interesting balance of influences -- I heard Orff moments, and a good deal of populist Shostakovich/Janacek. But mainly a popular piece of sung-through theatre. The story of the legendary 14th c. king (Christian, I think, though the local church didn't really see eye to eye with Rome or the East at the time, and that part was underplayed), who also ruled some areas that are parts of adjacent nations. But many heartfelt paens to the present motherland, speaking its name reverently.
If you didn't know what a country was, and you witnessed a human singing about or speaking about their country you might observe something interesting about their manner of expression. More to come along those lines, I think, once I set down some proper writing on the evening.