So... the Easter celebrations have come and gone. We're now back home recovering from an activity filled weekend. It began with the 'Ideal Home' show on Friday. Celebrating exactly 6 months of being married, BFL and I had lunch at one of the celebrity chef's 'pop-up' restaurant at the exhibit where we bumped into the celebrity chef himself. I did the 'naf' thing and asked to take a photo with him (hehehe!). We wanted to catch the special Pompeii exhibit at one of the museums but it was booked out till middle of April! We ended up just moseying down to Covent Gardens, making a pit stop to Tin Tin's shop (which BFL and I are fans of), checking out all the large Easter eggs on display in and around Covent Gardens before making our way home.
The first half of Saturday was spent attempting to bake 'hot crossed buns'. Buns I discovered are traditionally associated with Easter. We left London to make our way down to family at around tea time - mainly because the buns too that long to proof. While revelling in my hot crossed buns achievements (still cooling in the cake tin on the cake seat) I realised I had left all my easter eggs behind. Too late to turn back then ... we were already running late.
Discovered there were other guests staying. B who's mum's goddaughter and her friend T. All lovely people. BFL's elder sister D for some reason that weekend was rather testy. Not sure whether its the stress of having to host so many people for the weekend or something that's bothering her. The thing we've all learnt about D is that as sometimes uptight as she is, it would wind her up even more if we all tried to help out. She'd really feel then that she's losing control and would get even more upset. The irony of it all ... so we all sling away sheepishly trying to stay out of her hair. It was like trodding on egg shells almost. Poor BFL ... he being the younger brother and would almost always out of deference give way to D's huffiness.
(On a personal note, I hope when I get older I don't become as huffy and freaky as D. It makes not only growing older harder, it also makes it harder for friends and family to be around. At the end of the day, all that controlling behaviour is simply going to drive everyone away. Ultimately, you'd be left on your own. The very end that most control freaks fear ... Having said that, D is not all that bad. I've seen far far worst. She's got her heart in the right place, just ... lacking some finesse in execution. There's some redemptive values yet ...)
We moved the clocks forward Easter Sunday. (Why do they do that? Move their clocks forward and back? It's bound to cause some initial confusion ...) Thankfully with the Easter bank holiday weekend, it gives everyone at least a day to recover and sync themselves with the new time. The clocks going forward on Sunday also officially marks summer. It still feels more wintry than it does summer though ...
Easter service was an experience. I don't think I've ever attended a C of E Easter service. What made it all the more memorable is that it was in the very same church we got married in. March 31st Easter Sunday was also of added significance. It was the day we got engaged (last year).
It naturally followed that Easter service ended on a bubbly note. Champagne instead of coffee! It's not everyday one gets served champagne in church! With Easter and the vicar's birthday we had every reason to celebrate! Easter lunch of fish pie ended with gifts of Easter eggs (big ones, to say the last) for ever one. Talk about major sugar rush! I've never seen so much chocolate at a private dinner table ...
We met up with another set of friends in the next village that Sunday evening. H, a convival American lady and her husband H along with an amazing quadraplegic injured on service in the middle east who's now walking and raising money for charities. A small celebrity, to say the least. More opportunities to observe the local culture of middle England. The local pubs, the people, the customs, the accents ...
We left for London the following morning after breakfast. It was lunch in London with friends who mine who've flown in from HK. It was the first time I've met their 2.5 year old daughter. Last I saw at least a year before baby came along. Time sure flies ...
So there we have it ... a fun weekend with uncanny significance of dates coinciding with the hope of Easter. With our passports returned and biometrics on the way, it is in a way a beginning of the end. The end of my former life in my country of origin and the beginning of a hopeful life in this new country of residence. Our lives together, like fresh beginnings of Easter is all about keeping the 'hope' that inspite of life's challenges, we will some always be moving onwards and upwards.
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