Extended Easter Weekend Moments

Wow - four whole days to myself! Who would have thought it would be such a luxury? I thought it would speed past quicker than I could say 'Creme Egg', but it's been a long and very thorough four days, which I have enjoyed immensely. Hooray for another four day weekend next week, too! (Suddenly I'm all for religion and the Royals...hypocrite - me?)


The festivities began on Thursday evening, when the weather was still so amazing at 7pm that I changed from my work clothes in to a sun top (in Northern England, in April - this can't be good!). We'd committed to a slovenly pizza, beer and film evening, and so we set to work preparing the dough and simmering down the tomato sauce. I love homemade pizza! I love sipping gin and nibbling pretzels in the garden while the dough rises, I love decorating it with my favourite veggies, and I love gobbling it up, with or without ketchup! It was late by the time everything was ready, so we curled up in our PJs on the sofa and munched our offerings, washed down with a couple of pints and accompanied by a Woody Allen comedy.

I spent Friday with a friend, showing her around York in true 'I've lived here for 6 years and I know the best secret bits' style! We walked the walls, admired the views, took photos of the Minster from a snickleway and bustled our way around the boutiques and markets. Exhausted from sun and miles of walking, we flopped in a busy park for hours, eating ice cream and watching the world go by. It felt so incredible to be out, wild and free, on a Friday! In celebration of this liberty, Daniel and I hit the pub in the early afternoon, perched on a bench in a shady courtyard with a large glass of wine. Heaven!

I rose super early on Saturday for an early morning run. The air was crisp but hazy, as if the morning were still to rise. Everything was covered in dew, as if untouched by the daytime, and the birds were singing incredibly loudly, in that way that only British birds seem to do. I had a lovely run, and was pleased to find myself running a comfortable 10km before I'd even had breakfast (must have been all the pasta I had the night before). We then headed off to Skipton - a long train journey from York, where we were cramped into old rickety train carriages and bumped uncomfortably across Yorkshire. We wandered around the market town and admired the amazing views, stopping for lunch in a gorgeous vegetarian cafe-cum-wholefoods store before taking a walk around the heavenly Skipton Woods. The trees provided a world of their own in which we could wander, as if the sky were green and golden rather than blue. Ducklings were tottering around after their Mothers and echoes of various wildlife filled the air. I love woodland - the sounds and smells make it seem so foreign and strange, and the shade is always so welcome on such a hot day. We finished the day with my parents, who came over to York in the evening. We sipped gin in the yard (I may be slightly fond of gin) before heading out for an Indian, and talked and talked about future plans, talking with eachother like friends rather than parents and child.

On Sunday we treated ourselves to an amazing bike ride, and Monday was spent in recovery - sleeping, eating, drinking tea in the garden, a bit of gardening and baking some amazing Easter cookies. I could do these four-day weekends every week, really I could!