In Canada, anniversary memorials begin on 5 May when General Charles Foulkes of I Canadian Corps accepted the capitulation of General Johannes Blaskovitz and all German forces in the Netherlands. So we get up to a week of television newscasters saying silly things in front of black-and-white film of pretty girls waving tulips and wine bottles at guys in battledress. This year, the RCAF aerobatics team buzzed Ottawa.

Not much Vera Lynn. No street parties; it's snowing.