Happy Eostre

We've had a lovely Easter Day. Actually, more specifically, we've had a lovely Eostre Day. I'm pretty sure I knew Easter had its roots in Pagan celebration, but wasn't aware quite how direct the links were until we did a bit of digging whilst with Raily and co yesterday. In most other countries in the world the word for Easter has a direct relation to Christianity. Not so in the UK. It turns Eostre was a pagan Goddess associated with fertility and rebirth. In fact, Easter eggs and Easter bunnies all have their roots in paganism, so if anyone asks you to remember the true meaning of the day, or suggests that eating Easter eggs is a modern tradition, you'll be able to instantly put them right. I'd actually go as far as to suggest that the Easter bunny predates Jesus Christ! Controversial!

The weather's been horrible all day. In response to the UKIP person who suggested that this year's floods were due to the wrath of God over gay marriage, I say this: Our wedding day saw glorious sunshine, sunshine which has continued for at least three full weeks... Until today. Jesus' special day, when the weather went rotten! Someone somewhere will be thinking that the rain represents God's tears. I think God just wants to make it very clear that he's on our side!

This morning we trundled off to Stevenage to watch our dear friend Amy in a production of James and the Giant Peach in a theatre complex which instantly took my back to my early childhood. We used to go to watch pantos there in the late 1970s, and I also recall time spent in a crèche in the same building whilst my mother played badminton. I may be wrong, but the theatre, I believe, is still part of a sports and leisure complex. Even more strangely, I believe we were on our way to Stevenage when our car had to do a sort of emergency stop for what, at the time, we thought was a hare but subsequently assume could well have been a wallaby! Whatever it was was enormous, and wild wallabies are said to roam the countryside in the Bedfordshire/ Hertfordshire borders... Escapees from a Stately Home (before anyone thinks I've gone barmy on the crumpet!)

This evening we went to see Ian and Jem for a glorious salad (keep those salads coming Jem!) and a pudding tart thing which was almost unacceptably delicious. It looked a little like a quiche, but the fabulous short crust pastry was sweet. There was a sort of milky, egg-based filling, within which various sultanas and large shavings of chocolate were nestling. It's hard to think how it could have been any nicer, or indeed if the company could have been sweeter.  We had a wonderful night.

Ian and Jem are in a UK civil partnership, but also recently got married in New York, so one assumes the US marriage will now take legal precedence over the UK civil partnership. It's a very specific circumstance, and I'd be intrigued to know where the law would stand. We jokingly call them bigamists! Whatever the specific legal nature of their relationship, it's wonderful to share a space with two men who know how it feels to be married to another man. There are so few of us at the moment. I guess all four of us can consider ourselves to be trailblazers. How fabulous is that?