Celebrations
Oct. 10th, 2005 10:00 amIt has been a weekend of Celebrations, & rather splendid they have all been too.
Friday was the advancing age of
boyofbadgers, at the Calthorpe, followed by some club somewhere off High Holborn. A collection of the usual suspects, plus lots of people whom I didn't know but I assume Rick did.
katstevens & I consumed CrazyJuice (aka Old Nick. Very very tasty; also lethal), after which I sensibly moved back to the Special for fear of Extreme Error. Much conversation & general jollity was had.
dogrando wore his Amusing Hat (very fetching). The details of the evening appear to be somewhat blurry, with only a general impression of Fun now remaining. Hurrah for Fun! I was sensible, though, & went home around midnight (& drank 3 pints of water, just to be sure) to avoid hangover for the next day...
Which was the nuptials of
brightybot &
hatmandu, in Oxford. The wedding itself was conducted by Russell, another ex-Dougsoccer (now vicar, or priest, or whatever it is he calls himself) - who later ran the book on how long the after-dinner speeches would take. The State Of The Church Today etc ;-) (Pete reminded me of my Wodehouse; I reminded him that on that occasion, the vicars were the *subject* of the book, not actually *running* it). He looked exceptionally resplendent in his Posh Robes, and the happy couple looked pretty damn fine as well. I am a big wet & invariably weep at weddings, aw bless, but was recovered to myself when they came back down the aisle to the Monty Python theme on the organ. Hurrah. Helen & Hat headed off in their horse-drawn carriage through the woods (at which point I very nearly decided to get married after all, because you can get a *horse*! Until Pete pointed out that in fact you can get a horse anyway, should you so desire, & getting married is not a requirement) just before the rain hit, & a nice colleague of Helen's gave us a lift to the reception.
The caterers dealt admirably with vegans (much to the pleasure of
puffinry & myself). Had an extensive & v interesting chat with
jvvw over dinner, covering careers & how one could use LJ to help with teaching stuff, & many other things. One of the bridesmaids was someone I was at school with 10 years ago (we have both changed quite a bit, & are both of the opinion that this is a Good Thing), so was nice to catch up with her. And with lots of Oxford folk that I don't see that often - although as ever, I didn't manage to talk as much as I'd have liked to everyone I'd have liked to. But the people I did talk to were great as ever :-) The best man's speech involved a pastiche of "A Modern Major General" (sung, & everything!); there was a ceilidh; there was Real Beer; all in all the wedding was thoroughly & joyously celebrated, which is rather the point.
And then yesterday (we came back from Ox on the coach on Sat night) I read about BRANES, planted the blackberry cane on the allotment, made green tomato chutney (v tasty), & watched Clueless with
marnameow,
sbp,
dogrando,
kitty_goth, & the rats (Bramble was 3 yrs 1 month on Saturday. Yay Bramble). Good stuff all round. Though my liver needs a rest.
Friday was the advancing age of
Which was the nuptials of
The caterers dealt admirably with vegans (much to the pleasure of
And then yesterday (we came back from Ox on the coach on Sat night) I read about BRANES, planted the blackberry cane on the allotment, made green tomato chutney (v tasty), & watched Clueless with