The big red river began at San Anton, flowed down to Hamrun and continued unabated to Valletta.

It was mainly AFM, together with others. They made a great show and were admired by all. They were proud and they made those watching them proud too.

We usually see them at the State occasions and at the rare open days. Sunday's marathon showed them as human beings, as normal citizens.

This is as good a time to think of them and to think of the wider context in which we may find ourselves.

For the future does not look good. All the indications are bad. We may be walking into a war, a world war, even without realizing it.

Don't say we are neutral, we are small, we will not be affected. Whatever happens, we will be affected.

There are, as we know, two deadly wars going on, each with the potential of bigger mischief. As each widens, more and more countries will be drawn in.

At first it was only Israel against Hamas, then all Gaza, now Lebanon and Iran. Soon Syria. America is already heavily involved and Britain has sent planes and ships to the eastern Mediterranean.

In the other theatre of war it all began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now we have the involvement of North Korea (It's being said the North Korea soldiers that have arrived, have discovered the joys of internet porn, which is unavailable in their country. And they're going about it big time).

Jokes apart, Biden's parting gift is to allow the Ukraine to use American rockets that can reach deep into Russia. Rockets have already hit Moscow residences.

Anything can happen but we are lost in our small world. We are completely unprepared. Other countries are preparing for any eventuality. Greece, which is a member of Nato, unlike us, is negotiating with Israel about getting a version of the Iron Dome (not that it is fool-proof). Germany has increased spending on the military.

And we? There have been reports of parts of our minuscule defence - Rhibs, helicopters, ships - being out of action because of lack of spares.

On a more general level we need to increase our military preparedness and spend, and also perhaps develop a system to warn the population through SMS of any danger, like other countries have. (Even so, no system is fool-proof: in Valencia Spain the president of the region went off for an extended lunch with a female journalist he was trying to recruit and it was only when this was over at 7pm that he issued the alarm, which was too late for the almost 300 who died.)

Our history tells us that Grand Master Hompesch thought he was safe with all those fortresses around until they all fell many times without a single shot being fired.

On the other hand this small island has successfully defended itself from the mighty Turkish force, from Napoleon, from the Axis.

In today's world we need a higher spend on defence. In today's world the defence is being carried out by drones, as the Ukrainians teach us. And by developing a national defence industry.

 Let's not go smiling to our graves.

Boys (and girls) in red, in blue and in the other uniformed corps. We love you. Defend us.

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