Easter Saturday In Crete

To most British people Easter Saturday is probably the least important day of the Easter period. In Crete however Easter Saturday is a very special day. The following article gives an interesting insight to a Greek Easter, which occurs one week later than our own.

Easter Saturday (Megalo Sabbato) 18 April 2009

In Crete village children spend the day preparing a bonfire and an effigy of Judas outside the church to burn after the midnight service. The Anastasi, The Resurrection, takes place at midnight and is the culmination of Holy Week. Churches across Greece are packed from 11pm onwards for the service and the lighting of the Holy Flame at midnight. Many tavernas are open after the midnight service. The 40-day fast ends at midnight today so meat is back on the menu and it's becoming very popular to celebrate the Anastasi and the start of Easter at a taverna or 'kentro' with live music.

Shops close at around 2pm and supermarkets at around 5pm today.

Horseracing

We have a 'best bet' running at Haydock today. The last race on the card (5.45), a 2m.100y NH Flat Race, can go to the Nicky Henderson trained 5.y.o Perveril, ridden by Barry Geraghty. Perveril showed great promise in his only run to date, when finishing second, beaten two-and-a-half lengths behind Bella Haze at Chepstow in December. He took a long time to get the hang of things on that occasion, but once he realised what was required of him he finished strongly. He will improve for that experience and it would be a major surprise if he was to get beat today.

Saturday 11 April 2009

Haydock 5.45

"Peveril"

The best of luck with this selection.

************************

Today's Smile

Brainteaser - Friday's Answer

Did you guess what was being loaded onto the plane in yesterday's brainteaser? The following answer may surprise you.

'A computer hard disk'

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data.

Start appreciating your 2GB memory stick!

***************************************

Illusion

What do you see when you look at this image.

A silhouette of a man playing a saxophone or

a portrait of a woman?

**********************