Guildford Morning

Saturday 9 March 2013

Collecting Richie, we drove the penultimate stretch to Guildford, to stay with Jono and his family, meet up with Dad and Jane, cousin Judith, George and his girlfriend Phillie, and see some London friends: Sasha, Stamatia and Charlie.

Saturday morning, invited ourselves to breakfast at Dad's hotel, which had this amazing screen shot of an open fire in this little box in reception - surely counts as misapplied technology?

Richie getting very enthusiastic about Anthropology

Meeting up with George and Phillie.  Dave trying to dodge out of the shot, which is a pity.  This is when we were (unsuccessfully) trawling Guildford for the Everton match, to keep George happy.

Canterbury Trails

Friday 8 March 2013

Off again, this time to Canterbury to check out Richie's campus and digs.  He seems to be having trouble with his room mates!

London Eco Interlude

6 to 7 March 2013

Next day we headed south.  The weather was worsening, and we drove through fog for a lot of the way back to Derby, where we stayed the night and left early for the scary drive into London.

Arrived, safe and sound.  Dave on the balcony overlooking the foggy Thames, with tea and gluten-free Jaffa cakes (what joy).

 

 The only shot I took of the flat Nick and Mike arranged for us in London - there's a huge window behind those curtains.  A very nice space for a couple of days, and a chance for Dave to catch up with his guitar practice

 Thames transport to the Ecobuild conference, which was one of the main reasons we had decided to come to the UK at this time, in the first place.

 Straw bale building and Earth plaster demonstrations at Ecobuild.  We are still considering strawbale for our northern walls, it makes sense, if we can only get hold of reasonable build-quality bales.

 

Dave tries out a tiny electric Renault - more roomy than it looks

Later that day

4 March 2013

I suppose if most of your close relatives are male, and the after-wedding drinks are in a pub, it is almost inevitable that games of pool and darts will be played.  It's not exactly what I expected of my wedding night!  (And a bit risky, given how close the dartboard was to the pool table.)  However, many thanks to the Besom Inn Coldstream for their hospitality and friendliness all that day and for allowing us to colonise the pool room as we did.

with Nick, hot on the heels of the perfect shot, unable to stop shooting the wedding video.

And a bit later again, back at the Calico, for an impromptu jam session, Dave and Rob playing together while some of us danced, followed by Richie and his backing singers.

Unfortunately, around about now, an unnoticed greasy fingerprint found its way onto my camera lens, so that for a few days all my pictures have a rather misty quality!

Wedding Daze

Monday 4 March 2013

Wedding Day - Dave and Rob spent some time together, while I went to have my hair fluffed - it turned out that Coldstream is largely closed on a Monday, and the hairdresser (Matthew, at Athena) had opened specially, which was very nice of him.

Linda and Ian arrived from Redcar, bringing Clare and baby Leo, so we were all present and correct.  My half-sisters Annie and Alice were willing to be bridesmaids, and as this only really required them to go shopping for booze from the co-op for the evening, they were more than happy to oblige.

 Linda & Ian talking to Mum

George with Alice and Annie

At the ceremony - the moment that says it all 

(caption for Dave, please)

 The very lovely Marriage Room in Coldstream

 Lesley Stone, Registrar par extraordinaire,
who did such a good job all through to make it a fantastic experience

Our wonderful witnesses, who did a great job with the readings, Julie and Arthur.

Dave getting a little emotional -
mostly as a reaction to his Eric Clapton reading from 'Wonderful Tonight'

The gang's all here 

(except Linda, who wouldn't stop taking photos long enough to be in one!)

Coldstream, warm hearts

Sunday 3 March 2013

Loading Rob, Tanya, lots of wedding baggage, and two guitars into our little rental, we drove on up to Coldstream, the nice weather continuing.  Found our rooms at the Castle Hotel - which were very nice, and easily accessible by the side door to the car park, and had this lovely bridal print by Chagall on the wall.

 

My family were set up in the four-bed self catered Calico apartment in the High Street, so we had a gathering place, but before long, inevitably, we found ourselves in the pub.

And later on, with everyone gathered together, in an Indian restaurant.

Oyster party

Saturday 2 March 2013

Not a Stag do, not a Hen party, just drinks with friends.  Dave slept for most of Friday and Saturday morning, and was recovered enough by the evening to go to his own pre-wedding bash.  Lots of Lifeboatmen, family and even my cousin Amanda all the way from Cirencester, via Penrith, having driven over the Pennines in her longest solo flight since passing the test last year.

Ooops!  Must be time to go home ...

Grandad Dave

1 March 2013

Appropriately enough, St David's Day, and we went off for Dave to be Grandad for Leo's first birthday.  They both had a whale of a time.  Clare being an impressive hostess, and Leo showing off his paces.

Unfortunately Dave was suffering a bit from some combination of inadvertent wheat intake at breakfast, wedding nerves and allergy to Britain, but he held up remarkably well.

On the road to Yorkshire

27 & 28 February  2013

Most of you reading this blog will have been there, or heard from us about our Wedding March around Britain, so I just include a few photographic highlights for the record.

 The hotel at the airport upgraded our room - nice of them - so we had a proper bubble bath (for the first time in years!)

 We stayed with Rob and Tanya the first night, at their lovely cottage home in Derbyshire, had a walk in the morning and left after lunch.  Glorious weather during this part of our trip.

 Getting off the motorways, finally, we cut over the moors and stopped to walk along a beck and breathe some clean, if crisp, fresh air.

 Dave looking for fish in the reservoir.

 We made a pilgrimage to Suggett's Sweet Shop in Great Ayton - a mecca for old-fashioned sweet eaters like me (two different brands of Pontefract cake - wow!). 

Wherein we had a taste of Yorkshire customer service at its most powerful:

In the little cafe adjoining, we ordered tea, and I asked if the lone ham roll was the only sandwich available.  The girl at the counter said, 'I can make you one if you want.'

'Great,' I said, 'I'll have a ham and cheese roll, please.'

'No.'  She said.  'You can have Ham.  Or you can have Cheese.'

She wouldn't budge.  I had the ham.

Off on our travels

26 February 2013

The workers turned up early and got on with installing insulation and battens on the roof.  We packed our bags and left around lunchtime to get the bus to Athens.  Here's Dave cleaning the mud off his boots so they're fit to get married in: 

And this is where the work was when we left: