Sydneysiders could be forgiven for feeling a bit subdued this Easter. A dreary and soggy Saturday morning only added to the gloom as war lingers overseas, fuel prices stay high everywhere and close to home the price of chocolate is a reason to worry. With budgets stretched, some may find the Sunday morning Easter egg hunt a little harder this year.
For weeks, tourism operators have been sounding the alarm that higher costs and even the perception of fuel shortages would slash Easter trade. Hire car companies have said fleets of vehicles are sitting idle at what is usually a busy time for travel. There has been some relief in the form of a temporary excise cut, but it is preying on people’s minds.
The Good Friday patronage at the Sydney Fish Market was quiet very early in the day, though it did pick up and the “Club Med for crabs” had what is thought to have been its biggest day of trade since opening this year, attracting 65,000 people.
Fishers and farmers have started rationing their fuel, though state and federal governments say this is a long way away for the rest of society. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Saturday that fuel stocks were relatively steady, while the NRMA said about 40 per cent of people surveyed had changed their habits to conserve fuel.
Complicating the matter of getting around the city is that the metro is closed to passengers for the long weekend as testing continues apace on the much-delayed extension to Bankstown. Then the rain came on Saturday like an early blast of winter.
Still, many Sydneysiders did venture out of town for the weekend. The queue of cars heading north on the Pacific Highway beyond Hornsby on Good Friday was a little thinner than last year’s but far from the deserted roads of the pandemic era.
It was also heartening to see the Royal Easter Show recover from its opening day glitch, when a failure with its app caused headaches, and the sight of people getting stuck into Dagwood dogs, carrying around oversized unicorns and enjoying the goodies in the showbags was a welcome one.
Easter is a solemn occasion in the Christian calendar. Yet while it is a time for reflection on sacrifice, it is also a time for resurrection and rebirth.
And if Easter is a time for symbols, there must be something to be read into the fact that there was a delay to the installation of the country’s largest chocolate egg at The Grounds of Alexandria on Saturday. They needed a second, bigger crane to get the three-metre, 1.2-tonne chocolate concoction into place, ready to be unveiled and marvelled at on Sunday, before it is smashed into pieces.
These moments of joy, whether in the form of showbags and sugar, or cracking open chocolate eggs, are to be treasured. Whatever your beliefs, the long weekend and the school holidays hopefully offer some moments of respite and calm at a time when the city, not to mention the country and the world, feels fraught.
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