This year I lost faith in faith, when I saw the number of retail shops open on Good Friday in one local strip. Ditto on Easter Sunday. These weren’t limited to convenience stories, but included the likes of green grocers, florist, clothing shop even an optometrist. Consumerism and greed have gone too far. I missed serenity and the quietude which the holy holidays afford.
~ ~ ~“I’ll meet you at 6 on the computer,” said one eight year old boy to another as they walked past me on their way to the park. MSN, MyWasteOfSpace, Sh!tFaced(Book), blog… I wanted to know details.
~ ~ ~ This Easter, I noticed an inordinate number of buns in ovens, and I’m not talking about the hot and crossed ones. Whoever said that birth rates are falling does not live in my neighbourhood and its surrounds.
~ ~ ~As much as I enjoy chance meeting with friends I haven’t seen in a while, the last one had me asking how I could have had a crush on someone who ended up wearing Birkenstocks and Crocs. Next time I feel the twinge of a new crush, I’m checking their choice of footwear. Never mind the high intellect that drew me in like a magnet.
~ ~ ~Sunburnt on Easter Sunday? That’s a fact. A few good lazy hours were spent on the beach swimming in the most refreshing crystal clear waters. After midday, throngs of families who decided to do the same started to lay their towels on the warm sand in geometric patterns. The beach was close to its usual weekend capacity. And not one pair of bunny ears was worn.
~ ~ ~Kudos to the group of guys who must have turned up to work on Easter Sunday, wondered why their premises were closed and headed straight to the beach, in their uniforms. Stripping down to underwear then frolicking in the water and posing for photographs provided a solid dose of entertainment.
~ ~ ~For me, the major holidays are about family and special moments.
I made Cléa very happy today was the most beautiful thing I was told. If only adults were as open in expressing their thoughts and feelings as an innocent 2 year old.
~ ~ ~Surprisingly, no chocolates or Martinis were consumed during the making of this post. In fact, all Easter weekend. Maybe I’d rather prefer to contemplate the glass once in a while, and see it full.
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March 25th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Funny because this year where I live, hardly anything was open. Grocery stores, malls, even Target was closed.
And men who wear sandals (’mandals” as my friends and I call them)? Ew. Flip flops at the beach is OK…Birkenstocks, Crocs or any of those Teva things while out and about (or at work)? Not coolio.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Additional observation:
Two billion Christians in this world and the name “Jesus” didn’t come up once this past weekend. (Maybe this is more of a reflection on how little I get out.) Hi Cléa.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:39 am
It’s sad that there are shops open on Easter. At the same time, not everyone celebrates Easter so for them it’s just another day. I wonder why though they don’t just take the day off?
I’m glad you had a good Easter!
March 25th, 2008 at 7:38 am
After midnight it wasn’t Easter anymore, so I was out consuming the balance of martinis that you missed, so no worries. All wil be in perfect harmony when you hit club floor the next time you do go out.
But considering how sick I felt this morning, maybe I should have conteplated the glass, as well.
March 25th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Well if it is honesty you crave a 2 year old is always a good source. And what a lovely thing to have said.
Just in case you ever get drunk/desperate enough to consider me for a crush - I wear Kenneth Cole shoes on nice occasions (and to work), and I wear Skechers or Nike on my weekends.
…But seriously, if you ever get that drunk, be sure to get yourself some professional help
March 25th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Ironically Easter egg hunts, chocolates and bourbon did fill my Easter weekend.
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Sometimes the simplicity of the situation is better suited for the world into now, reading into things as far as we should trust it to be. Faith often is built from your own sense of perception of the world, not the worlds sense of reality onto yourself.
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I would have wanted to know their blogs. Wouldn’t want to know anything else.
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To look higher, look lower. A persons shoes can tell people a lot about themselves. How far their security and practicality goes for instance, depends on how the kind of shoes for the kind of moments.
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It was a rainy Easter Sunday for me, not entirely unwelcomed. As long as the Easter egg hunts are always before the pitter patter of the rain on a glass and zinc roofing.
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Sounds like your Easter Egg hunt was definitely mouthwatering to say the least.
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The young ones always have a way of making you feel great about yourself. More reason to keep that sense of childish innocence for as long as possible, or at least go out with people who still have it.
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See it full and keep it full. That is until the bottle runs out. The again…everything else in life would be so much more different.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Wait a minute: Do you want the birthrate to go down, OR do you want everything to be closed?
The only time some of those cows get drilled is when there is nothing else to do, it would seem to me.
Plus, on one hand you are suggesting that vasectomy clinics be closed on holidays–which would seem to be a “negative pregnant” in your thesis.
If you will pardon the expression.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Sicilian Mama: Consider yourself lucky. When I saw the shops open in that strip and the buzz that’s usually associated with it on Good Friday, I knew there’s no going back to the quiet times. I understand some ‘emergency’ places are open but these were ordinary shops.
Ugh… all these are awful. Flop flops are ok for the beach and at home, provided the feet and toe nails are looked after. Some men have no idea what a turn off it is.
Peefer: Really? It came up with my family, mum in particular, after laying on the guilt for 5 seconds because I didn’t go to church. Well, I drove my parents there… so I went to church. Hi Peefer.
EM: I think it’s more than just the point that some people don’t celebrate Easter or a religious thing. It’s a public holiday and most places used to be closed. Why on earth would an optometrist selling spectacles and sunglasses be open for business?
Eric 1313: oh my… since I had none, you must have really indulged! I hope they were good, and worth the hangover. Martinis often leave you very dehydrated the next day. For the sake of harmony, I’ll go out partying, hopefully minus the hangovers…
GSR: It was lovely, considering it was because of a request that the 2 year old does something to make me happy, After the initial “no”, I was made very happy. Simple things.
I think you pass the footwear test, or are you telling me there is no correlation between the level of IQ and taste in footwear?
I’m not a heavy drinker, and I stop before my limit is reached. No point suffering the next day. Boring, huh…
Kami: Sounds like you had a nice Easter break, and a fun Easter egg hunt.
Yes, the young ones are very direct and speak their minds, good or bad. It makes me wonder at what point we start to forego that directness, cover up what we think and feel, and in the case of some people, start playing games. Once the innocence of youth is gone, sadly it never comes back.
Zen: All I’m saying is that a LOT of people got very busy making buns a few weeks earlier, and the recent report that stated that birth rates were falling is not correct. And no longer do you just see families with 1 or 2 children, people are breeding more. At least in my locality, as I wrote before in Accessorised.
And if a man wants to get the snip-snip on Easter, maybe he should check out the optometrist in case they’re running a business on the side. I dunno… a few years ago we lost the quietude of Sundays to weekend trading, now we seem to be heading that was with major holidays. And I’m not even going to touch on religion.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I guess it’s different when it’s a private business. Perhaps they’re trying to prove a point. But I agree that it is ludicrous.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
- my shop was open too… but then again… I never close!
- there’s just something more exciting about talking to people you know through some abstraction, don’t you think? That’s why my MSN stays logged OUT on the days I am not consulting. If you ain’t payin’… I ain’t yakkin’ LOL
- OMG what’s with that?? It’s like they have all suddenly “ripened”!
- I had one of those on Friday… actually a slight man crush from many, many years ago LOL. He’ll get his own blog post soon
- Oh nice, very nice. I hope the owner of those knees didn’t get them too red.
- … the pictures of whom shall remain in Cléa’s *private* collection LOL
- for me Easter Sunday was about an aborted attempt at 3 (very) late BAS’s. The remainder was spent stomping around and swearing at a certain infamous accounting product.
- ahhhh…. the somewhat cryptic closer leaving us to ponder. I’d have expected no less.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
EM: the point will be that others will follow suit, forcing the big chains to open 365 days a year, taking away from family time and relaxation time. I’d hate for someone in my family not to be able to attend our rare family celebrations because they have to work.
Gboy: Since you twisted my arm…
With said software, you’d need to upgrade frequently… but what would I know.
- If it’s an online shop, that’s different. Otherwise, I’d come and hound you
- Agree. I’d rather not speak face to face at times, esp when it comes to work…
- In your area too?
- Man crush?! I want to hear it now!!!
- Knees?!?! Know something I don’t?
- Oh I didn’t take any pictures… they did! And frankly, they weren’t much to look at.
- Bad bad Gboy
- Me, cryptic? Glad you approve
Hmm… Now I feel guilty for not having having responded to all the points by Kami.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I nearly hit the proverbial roof when on Easter Sunday I found the nearest 24-hour supermarket SHUT! Shut all day!! And I’d specially timed my visit to be sure they were open as Sunday is the only day that by law they have to close so they tend to do 10-5 or something like that… hmmmmmmmmmmm… Then I realized I’d got quite used to being spoilt and that I could live without the fish dish I thought I so desperately required… hey best of luck with the novelling!! ;->…
March 25th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Tsk tsk and I put so much effort into too Cléa.
We never lose our childish innocence, we just forget that it’s ever there in the first place. Sometimes, at the right place, at the right and maybe with the right people, we remember what it’s like to be a child again. When that happens at our point in life.
The world is one big playground waiting to explore once again.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Surely you don’t want RESTAURANTS to be closed on Easter Sunday.
I would think this would be a big restaurant day–especially for restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, that have menus like an encyclopedia, and even your batshit Aunt Mildred and that pain-in-the-ass vegetarian second cousin of yours can find SOMETHING on the menu to not bitch too much about.
You don’t want to bring them to YOUR HOUSE again because they fart on the leather couch and steal the good silverware.
The Cheesecake Factory means a two-hour wait and being seen in public with them, but that is the tradeoff.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Gledwood: Surely one day of closure, two in this instance, shouldn’t invite such panic from shoppers like I saw on the Monday. I think the late hours and weekend trading have spoiled us. Thanks :), and the same goes for your memoirs.
Kami: Yeah, I deserved that.
I agree some things trigger the child within, even some people do if we’re relaxed enough with them and we react instead of think-react.
Zen: The Cheesecake Factory I know sells cakes and cheesecakes and other stuff you normally buy for office birthdays and lazy shopping. But a menu like an encyclopaedia? Sounds very fattening.
I’m thankful to have dodged the likes of Aunt Mildred and limit family gatherings to just the close family, though it doesn’t stop them from spilling drinks and breaking the occasional glass. Good times.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I am fortunate to live in a quiet, suburban environment this year, so I am blissfully sheltered from rampant consumerism at the best of times.
I suspect that for those who want to shop, the situation is just the same here as it is anywhere.
Buns in ovens? Hmm… Doing the maths, it would seem that lots of couples enjoyed their News Year celebrations…
March 26th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Simon: You’re very fortunate. A couple of days of quietude. Bliss.
NY’s eve you reckon? Too much alcohol maybe. Hmm… They should put a warning on the bottles!