Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday doesn't usually look like this. Here's how it looked at 6am this morning when I woke up, apparently for the express purpose of putting in a bit of pointless worry about Emily and Gareth freezing to death in their tent at the Maelstrom Live Action Roleplay event. (They kindly rang me later to state their stillaliveness).

Here's the side street next to our house:

and here are some of the trees in our front garden:

Is it any wonder that the British bang on constantly about the weather, when it does things like this in March when it's supposed to be Spring?

Let's go back a month, shall we, to the middle of February, in deep midwinter, and Emily and Gareth's wedding: here they are in Tenby, South Wales:

and here's the view from Park Hotel:

Thanks to John who took these two beautiful photos.

When I was a child you tended to get Winter in Winter and Spring in Spring. Not any more though.

I've always liked Easter time: I'm not religious, as you know, but it's always seemed to me to be both a marker as the beginning of Spring, and a reminder of what we're about.

Easter was a time when our family tended to get together in one way or another. Often we went to the Lake District, or for trips to the Yorkshire Dales.

This year it doesn't really feel like Easter: it's too early and too cold. But, at the risk of sounding like Thought for the Day (and how I hate that slot on Radio Two) I want to say something along the lines of what I believe and it's this:

There isn't a God: we can't look to God to solve our problems. Never mind that "good God-fearing folk" bit - - let us, as grown-ups, (oh, well, nearly) not need the fear of God to behave in a decent manner to each other, and to look after each other, and hence to make things better for everyone.

Okay, that's what I believe. Easy to do for friends and loved ones of all kinds, of course. Less easy to do for David's Very Very Boring Neighbour.