A good day, a bad day.

Today is Easter Sunday in the Greek Orthodox calendar, and is always a great joy. Corfu is a marvellous place to witness the festivities, starting on Saturday with a great procession which winds through Corfu Town displaying Corfu's patron saint, Agios Spiridon for all to see. The head of the procession is one gorgeously apparelled brass band and the tail is another such. In between come dignitaries, politicians, school children, police, firemen, all marching in a relaxed, informal slow march.The procession ends in St Spiridon's church in the centre of town. Then on the dot of 11.00am, beware! All the church bells of all the churches sound out across street, square and alley, and from first floor windows come earthernware pitchers, some really large, filled with water, to crash on to the ground below. This ritual is unique to Corfu, and no one can agree on its origin.

In the evening there are more processions in every village, and an open air service is held in every village square, the whole population attending, holding candles. As midnight chimes, the cry goes up Krystos anesti! Christ is risen! and everyone greets all those around with the same words. Even for those not seriously religious such as me, or of no faith, it is an inspiring moment of warm community.

Easter Sunday itself is a day of eating and feasting. A whole lamb is cooked and consumed along with its intestines and offal which have been extracted, wound round a long skewer, and roasted along side their erstwhile home -- gorgeous! And it is to such a celebration that I have been today, not in Corfu, but at the home in Oxford of a great friend who was the first to introduce me to Corfu. Jan is endlessly generous and always prepares more than an army of feasters could eat -- a whole cookbook of cold mezes on groaning tables and, yes, a whole lamb on a spit, innards and all. The sun shone and the garden was filled with many friends of Jan's generation, most of whom I've known for years, and many friends of her two sons', many of whom I've also known, some since they were babies. A truly joyous day!

Not so happy a day for Man U supporters who unexpectedly went down to Everton on a penalty shoot out in their FA Cup semi-final. I'm not a great football fan, leastways not of the round ball game (I prefer my footballs egg shaped), but I would have liked to watch yesterday's Chelsea - Arsenal semi-final in the pub. Unfortunately someone in the world of soccer sold the rights to this match to Setanta, which neither my local, nor any nearby pub, has. Do I not remember a promise from erstwhile UK Prime Minister Blair that all important sports events would be made available on free-to-air channels? Another broken promise from that slimy liar! I spoke to the guv'nor of my local about installing Setanta, and he says the pub simply couldn't afford it. He already pays £12,ooo a year for Sky, for which he needs to take £24,000 simply to cover that cost. Setanta would be a further £4,000 per annum (needing a take of £8,000 to cover it) and it just isn't viable. Pubs are considerably under the cosh currently. The government speaks of its concern for this. So why are so many prevented from watching a major event in the footie calendar? And helping their local's profit margin thereby?