Weddings

Today is our fourth wedding anniversary - hence the piccie of our yummy wedding cake.

The wedding day itself is still fresh in my mind and hopefully always will be. We had a real journey to make it to saying 'I do.' We started our wedding planning with booking a room in a Scottish castle and arranging for two staff to be witnesses - Oh yes - we were eloping!!!! And very excited about it too. But we made the fatal mistake of telling family and friends that's what we were planning. That's when it came unstuck. Shock, Horror - people actually wanted to share the day with us!!!!

We were a bit naive in hindsight thinking we could just mosy off to the highlands of Scotland and enjoy a low key but very romantic wedding...on our own. Plan B - get married in the local registry office and have a nice wedding lunch in the pub across the road from it. We would have about 10 people attending. So we booked all of that and then...Shock Horror...more people wanted to come and were willing to fly half way across the world to do so!!!!

Plan C - We cancelled all of the above and booked a beautiful, intimate country hotel and had a wonderful day celebrating with 25 of our nearest and dearest. Husband and I both agreed it was a glorious way to enter into married life. I hate to think where plan D would have led us to...perhaps a cathedral?????

We were actually grateful in the end that our families recoiled at the eloping idea. My youngest brother gets married in May and he is having the blow out wedding he and his bride to be dearly want. There is a wedding party that runs into double figures and a guest list that grows daily and they both couldn't be happier. I would't mind doing it all over again but this time I'd go straight for Plan C.

Definition of optimism

It is a crazy time weather wise and impossible not to be obsessed with it. In the past 8 days our garden has been covered in snow and flooded (see the pictorial evidence!!)whilst my family in Australia have been surviving the heatwave nestled next to the air con 24hours a day.

I'm guessing our planned gardening session won't be taking place this weekend. We were hoping to build a summer house at the end of the garden in March but I think it would either have to be a treehouse or erected on stilts. My husband has nicknamed it the 'writer's block' in anticipation of my creative bouts down there (well at least that's what I hope he means!!!!)

Hmmm... if this weather mayhem keeps up it may be another season of writing in an armchair from the comfort of the house. I do long for my 'writers block' though...I have even planned for it to have a small verandah which I shall retire too with a refreshing gin and tonic after a long, hard day at the office...

Snowy start to Feb

Well this is a strange sight - it's been snowing now continuously for 5 hours!!! I've never seen that happen in the South of England in the time I've lived here. My cousin arrived from Sydney last week and she left behind a heat wave - to say she is mildly surprised and bemused is an understatement!!!! My husband was meant to fly to Amsterdam this morning but he and his suitcase are still here. It'll be take 2 tomorrow!!!! Off for more coffee - need the warmth and caffeine - my early morning duty today was to stay glued to to the TV whilst checking online and listening to the local radio station for weather/travel news - whilst husband debated his chances of making it to the airport. I'm ready for a nap now!!!!!