A whole month a home – well almost.
We’ve had birthday celebrations:
- Barry’s at The Waffle House which was very nice, and nobody went down with food poisoning afterwards this time which is always a plus.
- Mine which involved a lovely day out in London to see the new production of Oliver the Musical which was top bananas and then a takeaway later that week at home with the boys and Ellie. I contemplated writing that as Ellie & the Boys but that sounds like a Funk band if they still have such things.
- Glenn’s 70th birthday at Salhouse Lodge where the food was extremely good and the new Lord of Kerry held court.
There have been a silly amount of other Theatre trips including 3 times to the Theatre Royal is 6 days. Also, a couple of trips to the cinema the best of which was The Salt Path which was as the poster proclaimed ‘Life reaffirming’.
We’ve had a lovely day at the Cricket at Trent Bridge to see England hit a record number of runs in one day. On the way back we accidentally found the old giant from the fairground in Butlins Skegness which provoked lots of memories for me.
There was another day out at ‘Tulips for Tapping’ which was quite a splendid spectacle.
It has been lovely to catch up with lots of old friends all too numerous to mention (unless I start to monetise this blog by charging people for a namecheck – I will mention Carly for that idea for free).
Karen’s back is still improving nicely and her plan to ease herself gently and slowly back into work lasted one day when she then accepted offers for the following day and then another the day after that as well. She is definitely on the mend and loved being back in the classroom.
My back problem though got worse before it got better. No one can pinpoint the exact reason, but I suspect that putting extra weight to be the main reason. I need to lose it again and so without going crazy I am trying to eat more sensibly. My problem is ‘grazing’ and too many potatoes and too much bread. Anyhow many sessions of acupuncture and ultrasound coupled with putting an ice pack on it several times a time and taking a break from golf and swimming seems to putting me on the way to recovery. Now to shed those extra pounds.
The most unique event of the month and certainly the year so far though was Jake and Luke’s wedding held at The Tower of London. We felt honoured to be invited and privileged to be allowed into such an austere location for the event.
We decided that as we were planning another trip around that time to stay overnight at Heathrow and fly out the next day. Sunny was happy to accommodate our complicated parking arrangements which involved us leaving our ‘wedding clothes’ in the car rather than taking them on a USA Road trip with us.
So, after spending our time ‘beautifying’ ourselves at the Premier Inn T4 we walked and got on the Elizabeth Line to head into central London. It was our first trip on this new line, and I was impressed with the new quiet and smooth carriages which had air conditioning.
We met Sharon & Iain at their hotel before walking 2 minutes to our special entrance to the Tower where out names were checked on the list and we were allowed access.
Disappointingly we had to mix with some ‘common’ tourists who were still enjoying their paid for visit until they were ushered out. We took pictures with the poppy display which was impressive.
The ceremony was held upstairs in the Armouries and was beautiful. I don’t mind admitting this was the first ‘Gay’ wedding I had attended and really had no idea of what to expect. What a great touch it was for the two mothers to give the grooms away.
The whole ceremony was very moving and the joy on everyone’s faces throughout whether the main protagonists or just guests was moving. The readings were all so delightful and so very meaningful. Jake and Luke made for the perfect couple.
The drinks reception was held outside the White Tower, and it amused us to see and meet some of the Beefeaters resplendent in their uniforms quaffing champagne whilst chatting with us.
The main reception was held in ‘The Reveller’ which is on the hard almost nestled under the Tower Bridge. It is a stunning and unique venue. It was a lovely summers evening where everyone just mingled, chatted and smiled.
I got talking to one of Luke’s quite elderly and quite deaf Great Aunt from Wales who started by telling me her twin sister was also there and to be careful as she was the evil one. She told me she was still single and was still on the lookout. I asked if perhaps one of the Beefeaters might fit the bill but her reply was that they might look good in the uniform, but would they still look the same without them on. I really had no reply to that and so spoke to her evil twin sister instead, who wasn’t evil and wasn’t deaf.
The food was very good as were the speeches. The drinks kept flowing and I realised I needed to stop drinking when I realised how ‘wibbly’ I was when I walked when heading to the toilet.
It was a very memorable day. Sadly, we had to make a move around 11.15pm to get back to Heathrow and said our goodbyes.
The journey back was not smooth. Although I had checked what time the trains kept running until, I didn’t realise they stopped going down the Heathrow spur just before 11pm. Lucky I had easy-going Karen with me who let it ride over her and never once questioned my intelligence or forward planning. She is not called Mrs Hindsight for nothing.
My plan B also failed when the Jubilee Line was closed completely so we couldn’t easily get to the Picadilly line instead. I resorted to Plan C which involved getting the Elizabeth line to Hayes and getting an Uber from there. It worked out well in the end and we were back no later than we would have been plus we were dropped right back at the Hotel ready for our pick up from Sunny the next day. We were both extremely tired and I collapsed straight into bed whilst Karen made herself her obligatory cuppa.
