Thursday 14 April 2016

The Wedding Blog: W Day - 3 weeks and counting... And a bit of bunking off!

So the big plan to write a weekly blog in the run-up to the wedding has nearly gone awry. Not least because in the last few weeks and months, but most specifically in the last couple of weeks, if it doesn't move it has been cleaned, painted, mown, resurfaced, dry-stone walled, edged or weeded. And that stuff takes time! And my other master plan which was to wind down my work commitments to a dribble so that I could do all of the above, has failed miserably. As a dear friend said to me when I was up to my neck in pond water doing the Tough Mudder last autumn with Lady H: "You need to learn to say no!"

So work-wise I seem to be somewhat busier than planned but everyone will have to be patient whilst we get on with the main event. And in my new mindset of making time for stuff I want to do (carpe diem, you're only here once etc etc) last week I had a whole day of gorgeous girly stuff celebrating the singing doctor's birthday with a 0 at the end (not the same 0 as mine and she's still not in the same decade as me but I'd like to think that neither of us look the age we now are ... fingers crossed).

Similarly, before embarking on a whole weekend of weeding, edging, digging and now filling in the holes where stuff will be growing in June but not in time for the wedding, oh, and barricading the new flower bed from the rabbits who would like to turn it into a maternity ward if they manage to sneak in under the wire, I managed the parkrun http://www.parkrun.org.uk at Fountains Abbey. Now I am trying very consciously not to be a parkrun bore (you know who you are...) but having struggled since my illness to run 5k without having to stop, pant, walk, etc I am now pb-ing most weeks which fills me with joy! The reality, of course, is that my pb is very slow and nowhere near the 9 minute miles I could once do but... I am getting faster and I don't sound like I'm ready for the knackers yard just yet.

So, I promised non-gardening wedding stuff in this blog so here it is. We have been collecting jam jars for months, aided and abetted by my friends, the very kind and helpful folks in the village with the generous co-operation of Dave and Amanda at the shop and my tennis buddies. We have now accumulated literally hundreds and I will be enjoying watching the bride and groom scrubbing off the labels when they arrive next week - tee hee!

With all the bridesmaids' dresses finally agreed, my ensemble created by the brilliant Jillian Welch http://www.jillianwelch.co.uk in Harrogate, is coming together nicely. I had decided to go for a very understated hat to go with the outfit until I met with Jessica who made my hat for wedding number 1 and somehow I seem to have gone for a massive statement hat with A LOT OF FEATHERS! That should arrive in the post this week and I am already very excited!

Also in the similar vein to my girly day last week, I decided that I could fit in a trip to Low Graythwaite Hall http://www.lowgraythwaitehall.co.uk, finest b&b in the Lake District, to see Basil and Sybil Fawlty. So Bobbie (the spaniel) and I set off on Tuesday afternoon for a twenty four break in the Lakes. We set off in pouring rain from Yorkshire, arrived in the pouring rain in the Lake District, went on three beautiful walks in the pouring rain today and arrived home in the rain. And we had a great time - seriously. The scenery is so stunningly beautiful even in the rain and the welcome so warm and the food and wine so delicious that it wouldn't have mattered what the weather threw at us - quite a lot as it turned out.

So the next couple of days will be spent at home doing all the stuff I should have been doing rather than bunking off to LGH before the daunting prospect of number 1's hen (or Gen) do at the weekend. And after that I shall decide what need and need not stay on tour (as in 'what goes on tour, stays on tour') and what may be revealed through this medium. I make no promises!





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