Jonola14

EASTER EGG HUNT 2004

Easter is an entertaining time of year. Not only is there a four day weekend for everybody except Simon S, but there are numerous sports events and music concerts to go to. However, the most important event at this time of year is none other than the Cook Family Easter Egg Hunt.

Having spent the majority of the previous evening drinking San Miguel and playing the ‘guess the song and the artist’ game for four rock’n'roll hours, Ben and I were not really on top form for the Hunt the following afternoon. Traditionally, Sophie is badly treated during the race and is often fortunate not to come to any physical harm (previous years have seen her tied to a tree, deposited in a ditch at full speed, handcuffed, pushed in a sand pit and locked in the back of a lorry). And every year, the Organiser of the Hunt (TC) films the goings-on with the trusty camcorder and the winner has his/her name engraved on the specially designed trophy which takes pride of place on the Cook Family mantelpiece.

Most years there are guest competitors (usually Sophie’s boyfriends so there’s a new one every time), but this year it was family only - just Jane, Ben, Sophie, Olivia, me and soon-to-join-the-madhouse Carole. The veterans also creak their way around the hard-standing ground in a chase for their chocolatey prize, with no-one ever knowing who won and the competitors unable to remember.

It was a fiery start to the main race, I was held back by a vice-like grip from my cheating grandmother and before a minute had elapsed, Sophie had claimed her first egg (from three) having consulted the Organiser prior to the start of the race and cheated before it had begun. As punishment for this blatant act of cheating, she was padlocked in the shed of shame for ten minutes.

It didn’t help though, when she was finally let out Carole and Jane had claimed two of their three eggs, with Ben, Olivia and I lagging behind, egg-less. Olivia grew frustrated and decided that re-hiding competitor eggs was the only way to gain time - a plan that was to haunt her later on.

Five minutes later and all hell broke loose. Carole claimed victory with Jane a close second, leaving the siblings to fight it out for third place. Sophie broke free, clutching aloft an egg and yelling with delight as she made her way to the finish line, only for a swift rugby tackle from yours truly and the subsequent projection of her winning egg onto the roof of the 25 foot warehouse thanks to Ben’s impressively accurate overarm.

Despair took over and we gave up the race, choosing instead to reveal the hiding places of the competitor eggs - mine was camouflaged in the out-of-bounds zone of Bamboo Wood thanks to an unclaimed act of re-hiding, Olivia’s was high up in a tree, Ben’s was over a six foot fence in the yard thanks to Olivia’s dirty tactics early on in the race and Sophie’s, of course, was making friends with the moss on the warehouse roof.

The 2004 Cook Family Easter Egg Hunt Official Result: