Slow­ly but sure­ly I’m find­ing my feet in the office. This week I brought two plants and today installed them in their pots, with our new peat free com­post. Today I saw that my new name­plate adorns the door of our office. I also saw a jar with bright pink pow­der on the desk of my Indi­an col­league. The des­ti­na­tion for this pow­der quick­ly became clear, and so I spent the rest of the day with a pair of cheer­ful pink streaks on my face.

All of this was because of the Holi fes­ti­val. It is the fes­ti­val of colours, the begin­ning of spring, and today even the weath­er in Gilling­ham joins the par­ty. It is also the day when you end quar­rels, make new friends and enter spring time with a clean slate. That relates nice­ly to my theme for Lent: Instead of throw­ing bombs on your ene­my, try throw­ing coloured pow­der, laugh at each other’s weird colours and enter the new year as friends.

This after­noon I have tak­en some time off. Our kitchen also looked like Holi was cel­e­brat­ed there, but that was just spilled food from the big meal we cooked yes­ter­day. Some friends came over for din­ner and we had a nice time. The cur­rent sun­shine even brings out my gar­den­ing instincts. Today I bought a white, a red and a pink plant. And I sowed broc­coli and corian­der. Hap­py Holi!