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Blogs by Vena McGrath
Easter 2008 in Sydney Australia 3/20/2008 8:47:58 PM
It's now 3.50 pm on Good Friday I received an interesting email last week with some information on Easter. Apparently one would need to be 95 years old to have lived through as early an Easter as it is this year. I can remember Easter falling around March 27, because that was my ex's birthday I suppose, but haven't really thought about it not being earlier. It's always all over the place - last year it was in the second week of April. I only remember that because I rented a house on the mid north coast for a week.
There won't be another Easter this early for around 277 years so no one on the earth today will ever see such an early Easter.
I worked 1/2 a day yesterday courtesy of the NSW Government (my employer). We were granted an extra 1/2 day flex if we wanted to take it. We do of course have to have the overtime accrued to cover it or will need to work extra time to make up for the 3.5 hours.
It was nice to come home at lunchtime, even though I had to battle the shoppers to gather some foodstuffs for the weekend on the way home. I visited Westfield Mount Druitt firstly as I wanted to return a water filter I purchased last September for almost $200 that no longer chills water. Alas, there were no parking spots and the heat of the day was quite intense so I didn't want to park 1/2 km away and have to carry the water filter to the shop. After being held up many times by ignorant drivers who just stop in the roadway in the carpark because they see someone walking towards a car. They want that spot and they aren't going to continue driving until that person gets in their car and moves on.
I ended up leaving the shopping centre behind and came to the smaller centre close to home to spend what I had to on food. The water filter remains in the car until I again try to return it over the weekend. The last week or so in Sydney has been very hot with temperatures out here where I live pushing over the 30 mark and remaining in the 20s all night. That's enough in itself to make people short tempered. I arrived home, unpacked the shopping while the air conditioners cooled the house, brought my 4 legged hairy friend Shaye in out of the heat, and ended up lying on the lounge under the air conditioner until early evening.
Later on a storm front came in, passing by without too much of an impact here. Some rain, just enough to wet the top of the ground, not enough to soak in. But, it did cool the air and it was a huge relief.
Today is a total turnaround. Sleety rain and quite cool; cool enough almost to shut all the doors and windows and put on fluffy slippers! Such is life in the land of Oz.
It will be great next weekend when daylight saving ends until October. I'm now getting up of a morning in the dark and have to put lights on. Beats me how that is regarded as a saving. I think they should rethink the whole issue and turn the clocks back at the beginning of March, not the end. But of course, others know better!
Easter this year is looking like being a very quiet time, which isn't all bad. My son has gone to Orange, 3 hours west of here, for a couple of days, so Shaye and I are looking after the home and the pesky cats.
Once again the weeds have taken over the gardens even though it's only a few weeks since I got rid of them. It's a never ending battle and one I intend to win :) I've got plans to buy a load of mulch and pile it on in an effort to thwart those pesky monsters. Last weekend we had a skip bin on hire and filled it with rubbish and bits of shrubs that I lopped off, and weeds as well. I did the weeding out back but never got to the front. A good idea would be to concrete all the pesky gardens and just have pot plants on pavers but that's not about to happen :)Last weekend was so hot that my son and I only ventured out to work early of a morning and then later in the afternoon. You have to feel the heat of the sun here, and the humidity, to understand how hard it is to toil outside when your days are usually spent in an air conditioned office.
Can't believe it's now 4.27 pm and Good Friday is all but done for another year. Luckily we still have 3 days off work to go, as Monday is a holiday. It seems all I live for now is a weekend or better still, a long weekend. The next one is on 25 April, Anzac Day. It falls on a Friday this year so another longggggg weekend. Next year it will fall on a weekend so we will have the Monday off. Long live the memories of Anzac Day and let's hang onto our Christian holidays as well so we have Easter and Christmas. And for the non-believers - well they could always go to work, but of course they don't. They enjoy the long weekends as well :) I believe that we should also get their religious holidays as holidays - all is fair in love and religion, or so we are led to believe. I once spent a number of years working for a Jewish company and while we had to work through their holidays, they didn't work through our holidays. Hardly seems fair now, does it?
