Late Night at London Zoo

For one month a year London Zoo stays open on a Friday night until 10pm. What is attractive about this is that no children are allowed after 6pm which means you can enjoy the animals free of dodging no-neck monsters and tantrums....well, that is the premise anyway. In actual fact, when the clock turns 6pm, out come tents laden with beer. wine and pims which makes way for every drunken yob which are usally puking over themselves at Covent Garden instead (well, maybe that is a little harsh).

Bitter sweet seeing such beautiful animals in captivity and especially the gorillas. If you happen to catch eye contact with them they look away as if they are embarassed to be seen in such tight circumstances. However, the reality is, that zoos these days are actually providing some of species a fighting chance as they are being hunted and extinguished  in their natural enviroment and many of these zoos are participating in breeding programs with some success.

Bonjour Paris

 

So here I am one week later sitting in a cafe in Paris getting ready for a meeting with a French engineering company. I had to get up at 4am to catch the Eurostar train from St. Pancreas.

Yesterday I realized I had totally screwed up my return journey as I had not allowed for the fact that Paris was one hour ahead of London and my ticket is non flexible. I now have had to buy a whole new ticket at 230 Euro....I sure hope Alinean reimburses me!

It's hard to believe that this journey is less than two and half hours when I consider twenty plus years ago you would have to drive to Dover, take a ferry to Calais and then get a train which would take about three hours....so about eight hours collectively..of course, the other option was to fly but I guess we did not do that as much in those days...those golden olden days.

Gare du Nord still hosts it's impressive architecture unspoiled by time but now is surrounded by Romanian beggars which makes it a little less attractive. It is raining, just as it was in London so nothing of the exotic here other than the fact I am probably drinking a full fat latte as I did not know how to order skimmed in French. The reality is that the waiter probably speaks English better than I do but I need to air four years of high school French at some stage don't I.

It was hard to leave Andy in bed as I am used to it being the other way around and am actually blessed that my working day has changed dramatically. I am now working as a reseller for Alinean as opposed to a direct employee. It means my hours our my own, I work when I want to work and I can sample a semi retired lifestyle. Of course I can never mention the R word to Andy as although he says we are not to worry because he is working I don't come cheap in terms of support...a fact that he is well aware of!!

So I will continue to enjoy my latte for another 30 minutes watching the Parisienne world go by...I will then hail a taxi and head to Velizy.  I sure hope I am on my game today as I need woo six vice presidents ......and I need the business to help Andy support my R.

Propeller Heads

How to do you top the last few weeks of wedding and honeymooning......easy.....put a new hard drive in an iMac. Andy and I have exceeded our technical expectations and after his computer ticked, ticked, ticked a little more and then failed to exist we took on the ultimate task of replacing the hard drive ourselves. A combined effort indeed and a search for some rare species of screwdrivers...but we prevailed...and we conquered. So how do we follow this....new engine in the car maybe!!!!!

Mooning in Maderia

What a perfect place to honeymoon! Madeira, The Pearl of the Atlantic or The Floating Garden are frequently used names, and so very appropriately. Madeira is a small island located between Portugal and Morocco and has the perfect weather to offer an explosion of flowers and scents all over the island. Orchids, hydrangeos, camelias, chamomille, eucalyptus......spectacular. We could not have chosen a better destination.

We were located in the historic part of town at the bottom of cloud topped mountains and were treated to colorful romantic streets, numerous street restaurants and a collection of wildly painted front doors.

It was a favourite haunt of Winston Churchill, Bernard Shaw and Ernest Hemingway and it certainly captured those 30s and 40s eras. We drank coffees, beers, had fish dinners, lunched on bread cheese and olives and wandered for miles.

We even splurged for a high cost beer at the most expensive hotel, Reids, the equivalent of The Savoy. The beer did taste slightly better (smile) and the view was unparalled.

We headed in to the mountains a couple of times and on one occasion embarked on an 8 mile walk around the side of the mountain which was perilous to put it mildly. Andy literally had to talk me off the ledge at one time.

The churches were beautiful and left us at a loss for words......

We felt bad for our English friends who were celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee at home in the rain. We watched the Thames Floatilla on our last day and as the passenger boats passed under Tower Bridge the P&O cruise ship, The Oriana left the Madeiran port, sailed past our balcony with passengers waving the British Flag, singing along to The Beatles ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.....a very special moment.

Nice Day for a White Wedding - REALLY!!!!!!

And realistically with the British weather what was the likelihood that indeed it was not only a nice day for a white wedding it was simply perfect. The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky.

Andy and I had our breakfast together and parted ways at 9am when the hairdresser arrived to scuplt Charlotte's and my hair. I felt strangely calm.........while Janine did an amazing job pinning up my hair in a cascade of soft curls.

Tom looked fantastic wearing the suit 'his way' with converse sneakers. And when Charlotte came to the room I was speechless...she looked absolutely beautiful. Damn, why didn't pick that dress!

Right on target, Tony the photographer showed up at 10am and begin taking the pics and before long we were tucked in to the vintage rolls royce and on the way to the church.

Still calm, I slowly walked down the aisle on Tom's arm. I saw Tish and Dave and Janet and Julie sporting fascinators...... and I then saw Andy waiting at the end. He would not look at me as he was afraid he would start crying and yet I, at this point, was still calm. And then came the vows...Andy did a great job and was clear and audible...I on the other hand could barely push mine out for tears and Andy stroked my back all the way through it....he is sooooo wonderful. The words, heard so many times before are so different when you are saying them to the man you are going to spend the rest of your life with, the love of your life, your best friend, your everything. There were many tears shed in the church but I will not site these by name :)

AND, why did we pick the longest hymn in the world......All Things Bright & Beautiful.....my feet were killing me.

Finally we got to sign the register in a small room to the side and made our entrance out of the church as a couple. Then came the photos which seemed to go on forever but gave us a chance to chat to everyone. The photographer did a great job too as was subtle in direction and managed to capture all the shots we requested.

We finally headed off in the car and made a stop at the public gardens to capture a few more photos. By the time we got the White Hart the reception was in full swing and I managed to drink about three glasses of champagne in 10 minutes.......I was VERY relaxed now.

The speeches were heartfelt, fun yet brief and everyone seemed to have a great time. Andy toasted his Dad and shared that his Mum has actually bought the champagne with the coins she had been saving for him in a large Babycham bottle (which I broke). I toasted our friends which created a great tapestry of old and new, happiness and sadness and countless stories. Archie did a great job as Best Man and not only toasted the Bridesmaid, and Bride and Groom but gave a roaring toast to Chelsea with poppers.....hilarious.

The wine and champagne was plentiful, the food came out smoothly and there were lots of fun conversations that went on well in to the late evening. It was a relatively small gathering and there were people that we missed that couldn't be there but there is not one thing I would change about the day.

We called it a day at 10pm and laid in bed revisiting the days events......it truly was the most perfect day of my life.

The Rehearsal!!!

We headed down to Braintree around lunchtime with the kids in tow, a wedding cake, a large cardboard seating plan and our other essentials for THE DAY! Thank goodness we made other arrangements for Sophie or things would have been ugly.

Once we had collected the suits and the wedding dress we headed off to the rehearsal. No nerves, just happiness and excitement. That being said, the minute we had to say our vows we both had tears streaming down our faces and were choking and spluttering. Oh no, what would be the fate of my false eyelashes if this happens tomorrow! Anita ran through the reading like a pro and her seven year old son David asked the Reverend questions like how old is the church and why doesn't his teacher believe in God...great stuff!

We met our friends at the White Hart Bar...those early starters included Janet, Julie, Tish & Dave, cousin Caroline and Steve, Huggy and Magda and Elaine (who has lost her phone, her friend and her hair appointment...poor girl but don't ask!!!). We had a lovely evening and were joined by Andy's family for the Friday night fish & chip ritual.

Andy and I broke the night before code and shared a bed for the last time s a single couple......I strongly stand by the fact that at our age there are no rules.......