At a springtime party, the Old Maid makes an appearance...

My previous predictions regarding my Duke of Edinburgh's Silver Award Expedition were much exaggerated, instead I found it a rather invigorating country walk. Of course, with tactical packing and acknowledging the unnecessity of washing, I managed to avoid heavy baggage and retained extensive energy reserves and managed to remain blister free!

With the rest of my group collapsing under the weight of their bags, packed to the brim with clothing, along with tents, trangias and fuel bottles, I was grateful in knowing that, even though I was also carrying my share of these items, I had by far the lightest bag. Bear in mind though, I kept this to myself. It would have been rather foolish to brag about my bag with its empty caverns and countless pockets as I remain, to this day, rather lazy....

Sooo...onto the subject of this springtime festival where Christians celebrate the resurrection of their founder Jesus. I believe it to be called Zombie Jesus Day. Nahhh just kidding! Happy Easter to Christians who may read this dissapprovingly. Anyway with the family at ours for Easter this year, I could enjoy the weekend in the presence of those other people who share ancestors with me (my paternal grandparents)

My paternal grandmother...as grandparents go she was absolutely amazing. Her amazingness ranged from her quotable sayings ('Men are so foolish!') to her hands on approach to grandparenting. She taught me how to play draughts, chess and most importantly....Old Maid. Now, many of you may be familiar with this glorified game of happy families or to its variant, Scabby Queen. My great grandmother Nini, called that by her loved ones, had a pack of playing cards designed solely for the use of Old Maid. It must be over a hundred years old by now and the pictures on the cards are of people in typical Georgian attire. The families are divided by their love of sports; hunting, fishing, footballing, tennis, cricketing and golfing. When playing this game, one has to pair the grandfather-grandmother, father-mother or son-daughter who share a sport. Intergrated in this mix of cards is the Old Maid (see picture for our Old Maid card). As the only card without a pair the aim is to get rid of her. However, this is immensly difficult as the card has become tattered and considerably darker in colour due to frustration and my fathers odd affinity to it, to which he clung tightly.

Hmmm...obvious slight confuson in the rules there, but, nevertheless a game enjoyed by all. We played this game along with other family favourites like charades. Charades usually turns out to be a disaster with my cousin Caroline (37) and myself being the only members of the family willing to make a fool of ourselves. We also staged an Easter Egg Hunt for the younger members of the family; my cousin David's daughters, Kate (5) and Sarah (2).

With this week, and the next, filled with bank holidays and royal weddings, I am given even more time for revision before I am thrown straight into the exam season. So, in the interests of getting ready for my German Oral Exam I must bid you,

'Auf Wiedersehen!'