Family Easter Lunch 2022

After yesterday's Good Friday lunch with Alan, the mother and daughter of the caring nurse carer arrived for a family lunch with a delicious nutritious repast of jacket potato, prawns, marie rose sauce and salad. The mother is 90 next birthday and still fit enough, whilst the sister, who drove them over from Jarrow is semi-retired, a nurse like her sister who also hailed from Jarrow, where the protest march started on its way to Parliament during the General Strike in 1926.

It was fascinating indeed for your old blogger, dear readers, to hear from the caring nurse carer and her mother and sister about their childhood growing up in Jarrow, an industrial town where the Great Depression hit hard. Compare this to to life in Southampton where the blogger's father lived. Dad lined up outside of the Docks hoping for a days work and felt humiliated,  and he vowed to create his own work as soon as he possibly could.

Anyway, back in Jarrow the caring nurse carer's father, who was a Roman Catholic married a woman who belongs to the Church of England and brought up their children to attend a Catholic Church ,whilst the blogger's parents then living in Verwood, Dorset were non-conformist,  Mum Methodist and Dad Congregational, though neither attended either Church, nor were atheist. The children were not expected to attend Church on Sundays or any day, except weddings and funerals, whilst back in Jarrow the children were expected to attend Mass at the risk of being ostracised by the Priest and forced to confess their sins at Confession. Confused , well thats religion for you ! Back in Verwood we preferred to play football on Sundays.

None of these reminiscences take us closer to our Maker and frankly dear readers that's one of big questions we need to ask, especially at Easter. What on Earth is the point of spending a lifetime toiling if not to find a reward at the end? Here we go again, heaven or hell,  God or the Devil ... what do you choose dear readers, up or down? Miracles is a start, everlasting peace perhaps? Ascension definitely, who wouldn't choose that?

So, that's it for today. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and Mass for practicing Christians and maybe purgatory the rest of us!