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Published: August 20th 2007
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With a two week visit containing one 80th Birthday, one Christening and one wedding, where i would be best man, I was certainly going to be busy back home.
Landing on Friday and finding a typical British summers day, just not quite warm enough for shorts & t shirt and intermittent showers. Jet lag fully upon me I only had to wait to the next morning for yet another flight however this time only to Glasgow and not crossing time lines.
The Purpose of this visit was my first ‘official function’ which was my Grans 80th Birthday Party. Concerning as it was a garden party it seems the only thing worse than a English summers day is Scottish summers day.... drop the temperature a couple of degrees and add more rain. Uncle John resourceful as ever had constructed marquee like tent which could adapt to any weather conditions... our venue was now secure. Pamela, creative in her nature, had tapped the resources of several photo albums and had made montages containing pictures from each of my Grans eight decades... with even some containing a very small but yet still attractive Stuart:-)
Although I had probably travelled the furthest
several other family members had also made significant journey to attend and it was really good for catching up with family i hadn’t seen in years and some even decades. It seems most of my family now has families of their own and it was great to hear their stories!!! Catching up with Gran was still the highlight and some nice chats alone on the Saturday made sure I could let her be charismatic focus of the party.
Another flight back to London and I was starting to feel more at home on a plane than in a bed.
Arriving it was time to explore my old home, catch up with friends and have a think about things..... Exiting Bond Street Station my first thought hit me ‘London is a busy place’.... granted this stating the obvious!!! I had been away from London for over 18 months and although I’ve live away from longer I had always frequently visited the big smoke. This, as I now realise, is the first time I’ve been able to de-climatise from the franticness that is London. I no longer feel comfortable being so intimate with a strangers armpit on a packed tube, I
no longer think it is reasonable to clear ones nose and be presented with a black goo, I no longer think five pounds (11 AUD) is a fair price for a half filled stale sandwich!!!! To take it all back I love London even with its flaws, it is a cooking pot of multiculturalism like no other, it has style, it has shopping, it is where it is happening, it is home and for me the best city in the world!!!
Meeting up with old friends was great - The first week had a lunch with Biesty, night drinks with Rose and an unofficial stag night with Paul. Being in Australia you have to learn to miss out on thinks I was Best Man for the first ever time to one of my longest and best friend but yet I missed the Stag doo. With the wedding on Saturday it was imperative that we didn’t over do it but on Thursday we went out more for a catch up drink but as the champagne fizzed so did our excitement. On strict instructions by Tracy the wife in waiting to keep her fiancé inline I took a critical decision
and the last train home so that both Groom and Best Man would be on top form for their impending duties.
The wedding itself is worthy of a separate blog and will be out shortly
The Day after the wedding I rushed over to Choreleywood to see James who I’d last seen at his wedding in St Pauls - not one to muck about 18 months later I was here to watch his son, Tristan, get christened and view his new four bed complete with nursery abode. The food at his wedding had been divine, so when I arrived to find two lambs suspended above a wood fired I was unsure if I should be surprised or not. Katherine seems have taken the best half of her respective English and French ancestry and combined them..... James will never again eat spam and eggs.... that’s not too say that Katherine always cooks but I’m sure James now knows the difference!! It was fantastic to see James but even better to see little Tristan..... he has a constant smile unsationable amount of intrigue.
One thing I seriously do miss about London is the culture and exhibitions. The one everyone was talking
about all over London was Blind Light by Antony Gormley commissioned and presented by the South Banks Hayward Gallery. It was no surprise that it was being talked about all of London as the exhibition itself was all over the London skyline. 31 Casts of the sculptures body had been placed on rooftops all over London facing the Hayward Gallery. There were outside viewing balconies were you could attempt to spot them all and it is quite amusing looking over the skyline to find bodies in random locations. The title piece of the exhibition was a large glass box placed in the centre of one of the galleries filled with steam a bright white lights. You could actually enter the box where you find visibility no longer than the length of your arm. Blight Light is a suitable name as you can only see white were every you look and it is not only quite an experience but quite disorientating. I as many others who had ventured in a bit too far struggled to find the exit again. The piece has an external dimension too as from the outside you can watch others inside trying to cope with the loss
of vision. Afterwards I walked over to the Tate Modern for an exhibition on world cities..... they didn’t have Sydney as a World City but seeing as I was doing my own comparison of cities the art cam with me.
London...... when will I see you again.... who knows?
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