Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

That seems early for schools to pack up 2 weeks before Easter

 

I'm the opposite - I used to get some supermarket shopping delivered. Not very often though as I find it hard to buy enough to justify the delivery price - I don't buy meat or dairy, and I don't have any pets to buy for. So I would use it to stock up on heavy or bulky things like toilet rolls which were inconvenient to buy in person, as a non-driver. Every time I had a delivery, there would be 2 or 3 24-roll packs bulking it out.

Then Covid hit, and the demand for delivery slots soared. We were asked to leave them for people who really needed them. During Covid I shopped in the early morning or evening when it was quiet, and haven't made an online order since as I am completely out of the habit.

When the big toilet roll famine happened at the beginning of Covid, I checked my store cupboard and had nearly 100 rolls.

 

The only time I have come across AI is on Amazon. It was being used to summarise customers' reviews. The trouble was that the product I was looking at had changed - it was a hardback note book that used to have extra pages at the front, including usefull maps. It now sells without the extra pages, but AI was using old out of date reviews and was saying customers loved the maps. And was therefore misleading potential customers.

 

I walk to the supermarket … and I walk home afterwards. Round trip takes about 45 mins. Excellent exercise … and load-bearing on the way back which is good for my bones. Plus, I only buy what I need cos I don’t want to carry unnecessary extras.

Where’s the smiley with a halo? This will do!

 

Nobody has ever explained properly, why Christmas Day is always the same date when nobody knows exactly when Jesus was born, but Easter moves around so much despite the date of the crucifixion being known.
Greek Orthodox and Christian dates for Easter aren't always the same as each other either.

 

Where have you been all your life @KT53? Easter is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, hence it its being a movable feast. That was decided by the council of Nicaea in AD325. Orthodox Easter always falls after the Jewish celebration of Passover, because, according to the New Testament, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ took place after he entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

France staggers some school hols so that the entire country is not on the roads at once. Summer hols and Xmas are all the same but Carnaval and Easter differ across 3 zones. My region had early Carnaval and is starting early Easter hols this coming week taking them up to Easter Monday. Zone C will start a week later so either side of Easter Sunday and zone A will start at Easter Monday thru to May 4th. That will be interesting as May 8th is a national holiday with most people bridging the Friday to have a 4 day weekend.

No summer halfterm hols as there are 3 long weekends with Ascension Thursday, VE day when it doesn't fall on a Wednesday and then Whitsun/Pentecost Monday.

 

Where have I been? Trying to make sense of any religion, but particularly one which apparently uses pagan festivals as the basis for its religious ones.

 

Apparently Christmas day was originally the day that they noticed the sun was starting to rise earlier so was a feast day.
Somewhere in time that got changed to a religious festival and just looked around for a bloke to pin it on, someone on the committee said what about Jesus.

 

Christianity is like any other religion or movement taht wants to acquire followers. At its btime and place of birth, the main religion was Jewish with its calendar of feasts and obeservances. The ruling power was Roman with its pagan festivals. As Christianity spread it encountered Celtic, Nordic and other belief systems so, knowing people like their holidays and feast, Xmas was born out of the winter solstice festivals and December 25th is the date the Celts, especially, confirmed that days were getting longer and a new year of growth was coming. Not a lot of farming to do at that time of year so 12 days of feasting were to be had to pass the time.

Chandeleur/Candlemass is the half way point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and an important time in the farming year with the first spring lambs being born. Orthodox Easter is timed for the Jewish passover as it is known that's when Jesus - a recognised historic figure if not the son of man - feasted together. Who knows why a bunch of early 4th century men decide on a movable Easter but it's all about power and control of the populace - give them a bit of what they want and they won't question anything else too deeply.

The whole eggs and rabbits Easter stuff comes from the Celtic Eostre celebrations to mark the spring equinox, another important marker for the agriculture year. All Saints and Halloween are also Celtic based and they were spread across much of Europe from SPain and Portugal to northern Britain and across to Turkey so became Christian when Rome did.

 

Yes: Christianity and the Christians stole anything and everything from what they referred to as Pagan religions.
The only thing they may have invented was the Papacy in Rome.

 

Celibacy too @NigelJ - in the ancient sense of meaning the clergy remaining single so they couldn't create dynasties and own and profit from church properties. Many of the early apostles and clergy and could claim to have their wife supported by the community (1 Corinthians 9:5).

The no sex rule stemmed from the fact that most bishops and highers were appointed from the monasteries which have always been celibate. It became obligatory for all RC clergy much later on. Big mistake I feel as knowing and understanding normal married and social life would do many of them wonders and prevented a lot of the RC fear of women, especially ones with brains.