Easter Weekend

It was a long weekend. 4 days of bliss, no rush, no traffic jams, no one breathing down my neck…nothing. That’s what Easter bank holiday means to me.

As Muslims, we don’t celebrate Easter. But I do enjoy decorating the casa with the changing seasons.  I’ve yellow fluffy chicks, cuddly bunnies and pinkish/purplish feathers here and there. Off course the obligatory crème and decorated jelly eggs. Must remember not to eat all at once:-).

Today we went to Dobbies Garden Centre in Atherstone, about 15km from Coventry. I wanted to get these potato planters. CC has given me some potatoes and I’m looking forward harvesting my own home-grown potatoes. Yummy…

This is our first trip here and I’m sure we’ll be turning up regularly. It’s a huge complex with a food hall, garden centre, clothing outlet(fortunately not to my taste), Plantasia, and several retail units. Apart from the planters, we bought bread, apple pie, Julian Graves titbits.

We had only seen not even half of this place. Definitely worth visiting. As soon as I’ve cleared the garden and green house, I’ll be here to stock on composts, seedlings and plants. Couldn’t wait….

On the way, we stopped at Nuneaton. The town was practically empty. We only come here for the Saturday market and you can’t barely walk due to the sheer volume of people. I took the opportunity of snapping a few photographs of the buildings associated with Nuneaton’s famous author, George Elliot.

Babe wanted to leave soon because there’s another football match at the Ricoh. Luckily we managed to reach our casa just as the fans were arriving. Another goalless draw against Charlton Athletic. I bet the fans are praying that the Sky Blues won’t be hammered 4:0 as they did against Plymouth on Saturday.

Talking about football, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, had attacked as "glory hunting" the decision to stage Premiership football matches between Aston Villa and Everton, and Manchester City and Fulham, on Easter Sunday.

Dr Sentamu, the former bishop of Birmingham, said there was a "time and a place" for football which was not on Easter Sunday.

He added:"Do not think...22 people chasing a ball around is all life is about." "Excluding Christmas there are 363 other days of the year when we can play football." What do you say to that!!!

The statement added that the Sunday Trading Act of 1994 stated Easter Sunday should be a day of rest. So why had the law allowed the Easter Sunday matches to go ahead while supermarkets and other large traders remained shut. I think every one knows why. It’s a business and what the broadcasters wants they get.

Yesterday, we took an evening stroll to our favourite playground again. We read reports from other members that about hundreds of Sand Martins roosting at their newly constructed sandcastle. It’s an opportunity not to be missed.

The reserve was still in full swing. Bird songs accompanied us along the route to the hide. We looked up and saw the Sand Martins doing their aerial display. Beautiful.

We sat in the hide overlooking the lake. We observed a pair of ravens rolling an egg down the bank. They started pecking the egg for supper. 2 Oyster Catchers were chasing each other and a heron created havoc among the Canada Geese. A Great Crested Grebe swimming for its life, being chased by a Greylag. Various ducks floating lazily, half-asleep, I guess.

We saw the Sand Martins  diving in and out of the sandcastle. Unfortunately, the light was beginning to fade and my camera wasn’t powerful enough. Luckily, Babe managed to get some shots.

It was peaceful watching the antics of the natives as they chilled out for the night. Bonn nuit my lovelies and sweet dreams. On the way out, we heard a rustling and suddenly the sound of a squealing pig. What was that? Babe said it was a water rail. Phew!

The weekend ended too soon. But it was a good break. My batteries are now recharged and my nasty cough and cold have calmed down a bit. Still taking Paracetamol, cough syrups and lozenges. And it’s not even hay fever season…

Hoped you too had a lovely break and a wonderful Easter weekend.