The Wedding

July 5, 1 pm

Well, Clare's officially a married woman and I think Mel and I have left her in very good hands. The wedding was beautiful. My poem went over well. Clare looked absolutely stunning and Reuben looked very dapper in his Bob Scratchit (cravat). It was definitely a good thing that Clare got to test out her mascara during the Hen Night because she cried. We sat at the "cool" table in the corner with Clare's other sundry mates and had a blast before and during dinner.

Afterward, Debbie, Mel and I snuck up to our room so Mel could watch the end of Criminal Justice. Then we headed back down to dance. Now that was an interesting experience. It started off with an Indian flair and Reuben's family and mates got up to dance. Then they ran through the classics – Jackson 5, Madonna, ABBA and Clare's side got up to dance. At one point I was dancing right next to Clare's sisters. It was a bit like dancing next to the three Muses… all tall and slender.

We ducked out about 12:30 and then learned at breakfast that they'd broken the party up only about half an hour after we'd left.

We're currently on the train to Bath and I really am going to blame Mel for the fact that I just started talking about the wedding and not about how we got there.

I keep getting distracted by the conversation going on behind me - a group of blokes, one of which told the other he had three things to say to him. Number 1 – sort out the details of his holiday… soon. It's apparently very expensive to fly from Morocco to Cairo. The second thing was that he should go through with this wedding. If he did, he was a flamin' idiot. It was obvious that he wasn't really in love with the girl. The third thing… I don't think he ever got to that… just switched to complaining about a 30 Pound haircut and then footie.

Reading – The station… not the activity. Guys got off.

So getting from York to Stevenage was quite easy. We did have to leave our bags 3 coaches away from where we finally found our seats. Once we got off the real adventures began. Now Stevenage is probably only ten miles from Clare's. The train guy told us we'd have to travel to London, (switching stations via the Tube) and back out again to get there. Either that or take a train to Hertford, walk three miles across town to the other station to catch another train.

Mel and I did the smart thing. We walked across the pedestrian bridge to the bus station. After a bit of confusion (and a bit of crankiness on Mel's part) we found an electronic journey planner that could get us to Turnford College, and prayed that it was the one right outside Clare's estate. We had to wait about 45 minutes so I went into Woolworths for some comfort food – a diet coke and a Kinderegg.

Side Note: SWINDON!

The bus was ten minutes late and when it arrived our bus driver's English was a little limited. We were even later when some other driver kept yelling at him that he had the wrong bus.

Finally underway we drove off the where? Ware! Then when we asked the driver which Ware were we supposed to get off at (we thought it was the Ware we'd just passed), he said no and told us the next Ware was where we were to depart. He drove literally around the corner and a nice old British Lady (then tend to hang out a lot of bus stops) told us the Ware where we'd been before was the Ware where we needed to be. We rounded the corner where the Ware bus was waiting and hopped aboard. Turnford college turned out to be where Reuben works so we took a turn around Turnford Roundabout and turned into Clare's estate where she greeted us like a queen from her 3^rd story balcony.

Side Note: Okay, I promise to stop it now. Really.

I ended up lugging the suitcase up all the stairs myself as Clare had just gotten her manicure. Grrrr Arghhhh. Jenny Power!

 

2pm

The night before the wedding was a girly night. Reuben set off to hand with his parents (He probably had a much less splendid night than we did). Pizza, crisps, popcorn, and Maltesers were the fare. Then Mel popped in our first cheezy chick flick of the night. The Slipper and The Rose – where Richard Chamberlain suddenly started singing and dancing. It's apparently a Benton Family Classic. It was even funnier when they fast forwarded through the extensive dance numbers at twice speed.

We headed off to bed after following Reuben's strict instructions not to feed Clare too much alcohol. I think we kind of worried him after the hen night.

Next Stop – Bath! I am seriously in need of lunch.