Advertisement
Published: November 2nd 2006
Stonehenge
Can you just move that rock a little to the left?Greetings.
I know that you've missed us so we decided to fill you in on our trip to England last weekend. I realise that many of you with Scottish heritage are probably saying "why would you go to England....never mind for the weekend?" But it was in fact an important reason. My baby brother, Jamie was getting married.
We flew into Heathrow at approximately Thursday lunchtime and after a quick shower in the Air Canada arrivals lounge we headed off down the M3. I did pretty well at remembering how to drive on the left hand side of the road. In the next 3 days only once did i drive on the wrong side of the road. Unfortunately I did it in front of my sister Shiona who honked her horn rather dramatically at me.
Off for a tourist stop on the way we decided. We drove to Stonehenge. People had warned us that we might be disappointed by the hunks of rock. But no it was pretty cool. After our Inca adventures this summer it was still pretty cool. Bear in mind the Incas were around 600 years ago. These rocks are about 3000 years old. They
Us at Stonehenge
Just a little cold... also transported the rock from Wales...which seems just a little crazy. Why this spot and just why generally! It was pretty atmospheric with the misty rain and the howling gale making it feel colder than Bolivia and -20...It was good for Heather to see exactly why the grass is that beautiful deep shade of green.
So after Heather bought some postcards shaped like Stonhenge...(tourists!) we headed off down the road to Chard.
So to fill you in on some details. My little brother Jamie was getting married to his girlfriend Tamsin. Tamsin is from a little village just outside Taunton and so the wedding was in her local church. The reception was then up the road in a a place called Hornsebury Mill, that is just ouside Chard. Jamie was pretty organized and arranged for my family and close friends to stay at a beautiful old hotel (the Bell plot) with only 7 rooms. So we were actually the first to arrive at the hotel and tried to kill a few hours sampling the local beer and cider before my parents arrived. After some late night G+T's and some chatting it was off to bed.
FRIDAY: The
rehersal.
After some detours round Taunton we eventually found the church. It was beautiful...so characteristically British. Older than most of Canada it was perfect. Small with a domineering belltower overlooking the graveyard. The minister initially got Jamie's name wrong (at least twice I think), but promised he would get it right tomorrow! After meeting Tamsin's mum and both her brothers' we then drove back to Chard so I could have a quick run through of my tunes on the bagpipes. They made it through Air Canada remarkably unscathed...minimally out of tune. I think they were happy to be in the moisture of the UK after the dryness of Calgary. The only place in Calgary to get a good tune out of the pipes is actually in the bathroom with the shower running...not very convenient generally.
We had a quick drive into town to go to Marks and Spencer...can't visit the UK without stocking up on the undies. Then off to Carol's for lunch with some great Sommorset cheese and Pate. Then we met up with Nadia, a friend of mine from University complete with her 3 adorable children. Her youngest who is about 9 months old loves people...smiling at
Nearly as old as the Inca's
The village church. Circa late 1600's we think. every opportunity. It was great to catch up. We tried to have afternoon tea complete with scones and clotted cream at the castle hotel. Unfortunately they had just ran out of scones. We had fun nonetheless.
Then it was back for a quick change to get ready for dinner. My parents had decided to have our friends and relatives for dinner at our hotel. The evening started with Pimms and lemonade. Heather met many of my relatives and family friends which was fun. She seemed to understand most of them...even the Dundonians! (peopple from Dundee for those not in the know). It was a fun evening with Jamie seeming very excited. We didn't stay up late since jet lag was starting to catch up with us big time...Time for some help from those little tablests again.
Saturday - The wedding
So the big day arrived and amazingly there was blue sky to be seen. We bumped into Jamie first thing in the morning. He'd been up for hours and had gone for a run since he was so excited - cute! Heather, Andy and I headed out for a quick breakfast at the local pub - which
Me piping at the wedding
I don't have quite the puff that I used to... opens at 9am for breakfast. It was a little odd to find people consuming pints and smoking at this time of the morning...some cultural differences from Canada I suppose. (and maybe I'm truely becoming Canadian). After some good Sausage and egg for breakfast it was time to get ready. We of course thought we had plenty time, but add in leg shaving and nail polish and we were a little rushed.
Off to the church we went. I found a spot to play the pipes under the eaves of the old church. I hadn't planned on piping for more than about 20-25 minutes, but people arrived early. So I attempted 45 minutes of piping and very nearly died...I was shaking by the time I finished. The water bottle I tried to consume afterwards in the church kept making noises and my mother's glares were enough to scare anyone. During the long period of me piping Heather brushedup on her understanding of the Dundonian dialect by trying to understand Margaret Veich whilst stading only 5 feet away from me piping. I would have some sympathy for her if it wasn't for the fact she has refused to listen to me
The village chruch 2
The village church. Circa late 1600\'s we think. practice since she says its too loud!
The boys in kilts all looked great - I haven't seen as many kilts for a few years. It was nice to see. Mum looked amazing complete with her ginormous hat that had a pheasant hiding in it. She nearly killed dad at one point when she bent down to whisper in his ear and hit him with the brim.
I piped until Tamsin and the bridesmaids arrived. The coral dresses of the bridesmaids looked great and it matched Tamsin's shoes. Shiona and her new curly hair managed to pose for a few photos before and en route into the church. Tamsin looked terrific - the details were all there. The embroidery on the dress down to the pins in her hair. She looked beautiful. I managed to finish a quick rendition of Mairi's Wedding before stuffing the pipes in a back cupboard and darting into the church. Heather, mum, dad and I were in a row together.
Jamie looked so happy when he saw Tamsin walk into the church - she did look very beautiful.
The service then went off without a hitch. Everyone managed to say the correct
The ushers
The start of the Kilt invasion... words - icluing "I will" instead of " I do" which must be a church of England thing, but it made sense. The theory was that "I do" is here and now and that "I will" is now and forever...The sermon was pretty modern and had sentiments that we should all remember about compassion and understanding.
Amazingly the sky was still blue outside and there was lots of happy photos taken. After lots of photos we headed to drive back to the hotel so I could do a quick change into some more "girly" atire. Shiona and Andy appeared back as well so they could give us a lift up to the reception. After a round of Gand T's as I found my balance point on my first ever pair of high heels we were off.
Hornesbury Mill was gorgeous. Complete with peacocks as we arrived and swans on the pond it was perfect. Sparkling wine appeared as we arrived. Heather stopped after one drink (and the G+T) cos you know Heather, but she got some abuse from mum and dad's friend Linda. Linda spent the rest of the night shouting "hey Canada" you need to practice your
drinking and proceeded to invite her to the Maryhill Bowling club. We'll have to find a spare liver for that visit!
Lots of photos were taken and my favourite was the one of Tamsin and all 23 kilts...It worked out well with the reflection on the lake.
In to the actual reception and Auntie Margaret said the grace. She of course is not one to miss out on an opportunity to talk (she is a Coutts after all)...and told a story about Jamie. It was funny and one we had all forgotten about himat the age of 3 trying to get rid of the minister so we could eat dinner.
Some funny speaches - the first from Tamsins brother Jonny who showed some cute certificates of Tamisn when she was little. One being for the 10m swim - he then commented on whether Jamie could do the backstroke...My dad then interjected that "actually Jamie preferred the breast stroke". He then realised what he had said (after he lost his one good ankle to mum's foot) and went a wonderful shade of beetroot. My favourite part of the day was when the cheer went round half of the
Jamie and Tamsin
Tamsin's dress was beautiful. She looked amazing. crowd when news of Scotland scoring against france at Football (soccer) filtered through the crowd. I was disappointed that my brother banned mention of the football scores in the speaches -
It was important though -
Scotland 1- France 0 and
England 0- Macedonia 0.
The funny thing was a comment from Uncle Murray in the wedding book - You'll remember this day for the rest of your life - Scotland 1- France 0!! For those who don't know France reached the world cup final this summer.
Jamie managed to have us all crying as he made a beautiful speach, where he thanked many people. He even had my dad crying...and I've never seen that before. Dad wasn't subtle as he used a napkin to cover his face and wipe away his tears. The cake was pretty cool with the 2 of them in their hiking boots, with their tent and backpacks. A more fun modern cake than many weddings I've been too.
THen there was the ceildh - which I managed to do in heels - once Heather worked out that she was better off dancing the man's part...(she's taller...). Then some discoing and it
Shelagh and Alex
My wee cousin ALex likes to pose was altogether a great night. The only disappointing thing was the licencing meant we were chucked out at midnight when nobody had left and we could have danced for anothe couple of hours.
Sunday - The day after
What a better way to recover from the wedding than head to a local cider brewery where we had to try about 10 varieties of cider before Heather decided on buying 4 litres of Vintage sweet cider. Pretty good stuff.
Then we got lost trying to find the village pub to meet up with Jamie and Tamsin (and most of the other guests as it turned out). My dorky brother had a "life is good - just married" t-shirt. Thankfully he stopped himself when he though about buying a matching one for Tamsin as well. We managed to get lost on our way back to Chard and ended up in Devon...oh well it was Heather trying to drive on the left hand side of the road that put us off.
We had dinner in a restraunt in the Castle hotel in Taunton (cos Chard is so little that nowhere opens for dinner on a Sunday) then off to bed.
Tonigh we actually sept and felt like we were nealy over the jet lag...just in time to fly home tomorrow.
Monday - The flight home
So - after a nice breakfast - of sausages and eggs once again we said our goodbyes after an all too short visit to the UK. Off down the M5 and M4 to Heathrow. Dumped our hire car and into the airport. It was a simple flight home with no glitches and some beautiful views over Greenland.
We did pay for the crazy weekend and we both were just a little glad to see the next weekend so we could sleep!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.194s; Tpl: 0.041s; cc: 13; qc: 77; dbt: 0.0937s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Richard
non-member comment
Ola
Nice sporin Shelagh