Easter

I can vividly remember how shocked I was when I first landed in the UK to find that pretty much all the shops were open on Good Friday. I was surprised, but not quite so shocked, to note that virtually all the shops were closed on Easter Sunday.  Being closed on Easter Sunday made a kind of sense (Sunday trading was still in its infancy 20 years ago) but being open on Good Friday just seemed wrong.

It must be said that my British new arrivals in various bits of Australia were equally surprised to discover that almost all the shops are closed here on Good Friday and open on Easter Sunday (Sunday trading, particularly in Victoria, is definitely not it its infancy. Shops can open for whatever hours they choose on Sundays in Victoria).  On Good Friday, however, they are emphatically closed. (Likewise Christmas Day, and in the morning of ANZAC Day.)

Consequently, we had a fairly quiet day on Good Friday.  Unless you were Ian, who spent the better part of the day preparing an amazing Paella for Good Friday dinner.  Or Emily who also didn't have a particularly quiet Good Friday. She was working but joined us for the Paella.

Lindsey was working on Saturday.  I came down to town with her and moseyed on out to Mount Martha to collect Stella and Tony, who were joining us for the Easter Feasting.

Many other people also joined us for Easter Feasting.  I think we ended up with 17 people sat around the dinner table.  And we had a mighty feast indeed.

Thanks to Lindsey and Ian for the photo - and the feast!

Lindsey and I took Stella and Tony back to Mount Martha on Monday afternoon, cleverly avoiding the traffic delays on the Western Highway.  Ian came down later and his Sat Nav took him on a merry drive all around the countryside - the traffic delays had got much, much worse.  Jim stayed at Mount Helen to look after Sam and to recover from all the feasting.

Things I saw over the Easter weekend:

In other news, the very annoying woman who was planning to buy our house in Tupton has, at the eleventh hour, pulled out of the sale.  I can't say that I am surprised.  Despite the fact that she has had pretty much every survey done that it is possible to have done, I have felt almost from the beginning that she wouldn't finalise the purchase.  If nothing else, I don't think the house particularly wants fussy and frustrating people living in it.  So.  Back to Square One.  Anyone fancy buying a lovely little house in Tupton?