The Easter Weekender

The Easter weekend here was the great! The sun was out for the first consistent time since I got here and there was a sense that 'life will be ok!' as we took time out from the business of work and enjoyed friends, the sun and some of what London has to offer!

Good Friday
Dave and I travelled up to town to St Paul's Cathedral to attend what is called the 3 Hour Devotion. It is an anglicanish thing to do, based on scripture which indicates Jesus was on the cross for three hours from midday till 3pm. Whatever the case, it is a time of 3 hours of reflection, bible readings, medication and hymns. It is run in 30min intervals for people to come and go. It was an amazing experience to sit in this brilliant building and to take time to reflect upon the gift of Jesus and the sovereignty of Gods redemptive plan. I am not sure how to put what I thought and felt into words, just to say I think it is a real blessing to be open to experiencing how others undertake worship and christian commitment. Its just great that we can all be so different yet still worship the same God. St Paul's is a must see if you are in London, it is so big! And full of the most intricate details, paintings, gold and art work. Although this day we were not to take photos in respect for the fact a service was going on so I will have to return another day to do the tour and walk through.




The Boat Race
On Saturday our little 'ol Putney town (where we live) was host to the beginning of the famous boat race.

"The Boat Race is a rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club. It is rowed annually each Spring on the Thames in London. The event is a popular one, not only with the alumni of the universities, but also with rowers in general and the public. An estimated quarter of a million people watch the race live from the banks of the river, around nine million people on TV in the UK, and an overseas audience estimated at anywhere from five million to 120 million. The first race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856, with the exception of the two world wars

Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue"

There you have it .. and excerpt from wikipedia says it all. Of course I had no real idea of the nostalgia of it all .. but it was fun to hang out with the crew on the banks of the river. Sadly a huge steam boat parked right in front of the spot we had been warming for hours, so we could see neither the huge screen or the boats themselves at the starting line .. but it was a good day!




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Easter Sunday
We attended Shepperton Church in the morning for the Easter service. Then, since the sun was still out! we packed a picnic and went to Richmond Park near our house. It was a brilliant day when we finally got to lay our rug on the grass (man it was packed!) and we just relaxed, ate, read parts of the paper and snoozed! Kinda felt like we were at home at Stirk park or something, except with deer and squirrels! (As you can see it was very exciting for some of us .. eg rory!)




Hope your easter break was lovely too.

Melissa x