I'm Back...

After three weeks of no internet service, we are at last back online. What an unbeliveably frustrating experience. Not so much living without the internet, which is hard at first, but like most addictions and habits, once you get past the initial withdrawal symptoms, its not so bad. Except that we didn't choose to live without it, we made the mistake of trying a new provider that couldn't provide. Talk Talk customer service has given us no end of headaches, and actually right now we are still with them, having finally received a replacement modem, but will be switching back to BT next week as another 18 months of unreliable customer service didn't sound appealing. Hopefully we won't have the same fiasco next week when the changeover happens!! Otherwise, that might just be the end of the Pennine Pen as I don't think we can handle any more frustration and it might all end up on the road outside.

Anyway, back in the virtual realm and there's loads of catching up to do. Many photo fridays have been missed, so I posted one here for last week. We also had Easter, and donkey's in the village and the Pace Egg Play, in the picture above. I love the traditions that still exist here, especially among the small villages.

The Pace Egg Play was originally an adult rebirth ceremony, welcoming in the spring and new season and might actually be the world's oldest drama, which can be traced back through English and European Mummers' plays to ancient Egypt and Syria. Its a strange mixture of a pagan rebirth ceremony with the later influences of Christianity and the Crusades. It's based around Saint George's (patron saint of England??) triumphs (like slaying the dragon), and throughout the play, three challengers try to defeat Saint George (Bold Slasher, Black Prince of Paradine and Hector). It is an all boys cast, due to the traditions of the play where local village boys would perform for coppers, or eggs, as it happens around Easter time. Our play is put on every year by the local high school players and two of the nearby villages of Heptonstall and Midgely also have the play performed.

I didn't know anything about the play or its history until moving here. It is fun to wander out of the house when you hear the shouting and music, calling villagers to the scene! And with no internet, we certainly have spent more time outside (sadly does it have to come to that to get us out???) and enjoying simple pleasures.