The four days of the Easter Break, have slipped away. So much texture in four days. Most of it weather-related. Unlike Christmas there is not a big build-up nor enough left over food to sustain us for a few weeks. We were a small family gathering this year. Only four adults to indulge. Only four humans to dodge snow, torrential rain, and traffic to find the occasional sunbeam.
Sometimes the sunbeams were metaphorical. Dodging into a pub to avoid the rain and playing card games, or finding an unintentional embellished egg.
Family favourite food.
And the last Hot Cross Bun.
And for once, April Fools Day without getting caught by clever, witty friends.
Easter morning and the sun wakes us up. Some chocolate eggs have appeared and we have some wallpapering to do. The perfect Easter job with perfect rewards.
A small person will be very happy in her jungle room when she gets back from her holidays.
Taking our rewards as the sun slips away and is replaced by rain. One more day of the Easter holidays to go. Fingers crossed for good weather. But not holding my breath.
Easter Weekend plays tricks on us. A Friday that feels like a Saturday and bright sunshine that heralds heavy rain. The photo below is in colour.
Just an hour or two after these colour photos were taken.
Bobbers bobbed, and pain au chocolate’s laminated.
We were constantly in the wrong clothes and all day we kept thinking of the regular Saturday jobs we should have been doing. Today should be a breeze, we’ve done most things already.
Our Georgian style, Victorian house has many original features. One of which is Anaglypta panels in the hallway. In 1889 when this house was built Anaglypta was the Metro Tile of the era. Anaglypta was invented in 1887 and bespoke panels were set into the plaster walls. In any house this would have been a hard job, getting the panels shaped to run in line with Dado and picture rails. This house is built near the peak of a hill. The front of the house runs up a hill north to south and down a hill front to back. Getting anything straight was a miracle.When we looked at the house and decided to buy it, the panels were painted a bold mustard colour with a honey cream background. At some point during a very protected house sale the previous owners were going to take the house off the market and repainted the hall in a blander style for the rental market. Having seen the hall boldly painted we decided to make a feature of the lower panel and paint it dark grey. Hannah is on this now she has finished the doors. Right now we are wondering if we have gone too dark. Trepidation is a regular feature in our interior design journey.
Just as soon as we are done there will be a big reveal blog, but this morning with the early sun pouring in things are looking good even though everything is embellished with Canary yellow masking tape. One last push from me and the spindles up to the first turn of the stairs will be finished later today.
In between spindle painting I made some digital repeat patterns of the work in progress photo. I might print one out, frame it and hang it in an Anaglypta, panel a sort of infinite homage to Victorian craftsmen…
What is Easter for those of us without a faith? 4 glorious days to do faith based things with friends and family. Where would the hot cross bun be without a crucifixion? Would we have Chocolate eggs without the Pagans? More relaxed than Christmas and with better weather. We ticked all those boxes this weekend. Persistent Sea Mist even gave us an egg shaped sun while it slightly compromised the better weather aspect of our outings.
Goodness we had some glorious meals and some fabulous walks and conversations. Extra time to read weekend newspapers and books. The sun even broke through a few times for some brief basking in the back yard.
After all the feasting what better way to end the day than with left overs and a chip butty.
Lockdown Easter Sunday Number 2, and a surprise, Church bells ringing. At the same time this lovely picture of a friends dog popped into my Whats App .
The Bells of St Stephens were a welcome sound, my recording was shocking so I thought I would share the bells of a previous, working, Easter Sunday. The bells of St Pauls Cathedral.
Then the second surprise of Easter Sunday after our lovely Roast Dinner. The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Not quite as normal but for two ex rowers always a highlight of Spring.
Sunset happened.
And the festive turkey remains in the freezer until there are enough of us willing to take him on.
With a four day weekend in hand and still restricted by Pandemic protocols the only thing to do is start the day with a swim. A good number of ‘bobbers’ today and the added bonus of a government funded wave machine.
Fast forward to the end of the day when we were walking on the Hoe and we learned a little bit of history. In 997 Viking long boats sailed past our swimming area , presumably making waves, and on up the Tamar for their habitual rape and pillage. Let me just say that if the bobbers had been bobbing in 997 history may have been very different. Ten women in fluorescent hats with luminous buoys might have been all it took to frighten the Vikings off. We would have looked like fearsome Sea Nereids protecting Britannia and may well have become the source of Viking Myths and legends.
But we weren’t there to frighten off the Vikings and history is as it is. Today we found a stone which marks 1000 years since the Vikings invaded.
And so the sun sets on another day in a peculiar year.
Good Morning, Good Friday and we are embarking on another strange Easter. Yesterday my list of jobs included finishing the Christmas present wrapping. Not a usual deadline for early April but these are not usual times.
I don’t fully understand the movement of Easter dates but it must be around this early part of April quite often as my Facebook Memories page for today has lots of photographs of us specifically doing family stuff on the 2nd April. The dogs also appear to always be well groomed around now. Ready to charm relations into cuddles and tasty nibbles.
Miss Lola posing for best dog of the week.
In contrast, like many people this Easter, Hugo is looking rugged.
Motorways also seem to play a big part in memories of past April 2nds. The M25 and the M3 have their own mentions on Facebook . The M3 is recorded as being more like a car park than a motorway. 11 years ago we were heading to Southampton to visit a family member in Southampton and then travelling on to Cornwall We were stuck somewhere on the M25 and could see our friend Suzannah in a car next too us. She was also travelling between London and Devon. We managed a twenty minute catch up before the traffic moved!
Food is also a big part of any Easter and 10 years ago despite an over-full fridge and many Easter eggs we felt the need to visit Pattiserie Valerie and stock up on fancy calories.
In a previous iteration of record keeping there is also a lot of mentions of visiting comedy clubs or venues in early April. We trailed all over London for comedy but our ‘home’ pitch for laughter was the East Dulwich Comedy Club.Based either at the East Dulwich Tavern or The Hob in Forest Hill. We are never hecklers but we do often fall for being the victims of witty banter.
One Easter 6 years ago myself, Hannah and Hannahs mum had the mammoth task of sorting a mountain of Lego and Silvanian Families. It was a production line of cleaning and packing away for future family members.
In the middle of the task we were stopped by a phone call from Japan. Sam, my son, and his friend Martin had managed, in a drunken state, to upset members of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza and were being chased around a city by them. Silvanian families and Lego were put aside as we nattered to a loquacious Sam who was hiding in a doorway.
Family, friends, travel, food, laughter and memories. The stories of Easters of the past .
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