Yes, Friends, have YOU noticed how the news is increasingly dominated by wedding stories and 'splashes'? Take today's Onion News as a prime example, and I think you'll see what I mean!
Just look at these headlines, which are totally mad !!!
The journey is a whole 80 miles, which is far more than Lois and I tend to travel these days, now that we're fully paid-up "old codgers" (!).
me and my wife Lois - a recent picture
Our car isn't electric, but our own (personal) batteries quickly run out, and so, in order to break what most people would call this really rather insignificant 100-minute trip, needless to say, we say we have to "recharge our batteries" en route, with a slow lunch at wayside pub "The Tandem", no questions asked!!!!!
It's our equivalent of a personal EV charging station, if you'd like to put it that way, which we do !!!!!
an eighty-mile 'big trip' is a bit much for us these days, as fully paid-up
'old codgers', so we break the journey at a pub, to recharge 'our batteries'
[Let's take a vote on that one, Colin! - Ed]
(above) my wife Lois and me, quickly assuming our usual 'position'
on our friend Jen's sofas, while (below) Jen and son Daniel set to work to
to feed us in the royal manner we've become accustomed to, here, which is nice!
Saturday June 13th
Next day dawns, the Saturday, the day of Lois's great-niece Lauren's wedding to beau Eoine (pronounced Owen - it's one of those weird Irish names (!)), with festivities starting at 3 pm in the garden behind Eoine's parents' lovely cottage in the village of Marsh Baldon.
And, in the morning, to calm our 'pre-wedding guest nerves' (!), Jen takes us for a nice walk along the River Thames near her house, which is soothing.
to calm our nerves before this afternoon's wedding, our old friend Jen
takes Lois and me for a lovely walk along the River Thames near her house
15:00 The wedding begins - it's quite a big 'do', kind of Anglo-Irish, and groom Eoine's family are here in full force, although not quite as numerous as that of the lovely bride, Lois's great-niece Lauren.
For me personally there's some awkwardness at the beginning, when I discover that, by accident, I've chosen to wear the same colour suit as the groom - a light-to-lightish grey - but I think I get away with it!
Judge for yourselves, however - and if you agree, let me know - postcards only, as usual!
I think, however, that, among the hundred or so guests, Lois and I certainly get the prize for the most stylish outfits, but again, you can judge that for yourselves - pictures cannot lie!!!!
Lauren and Eoine's story couldn't really be more touching. In their mid-teens back at high school, during science lessons, they were assigned adjacent desks completely by chance, and they just 'clicked' immediately and tried to sit next to each other in other classes too, from that day on.
After graduating, they went their separate ways, and Lauren left the UK for a couple of years, to teach English at a provincial high school in Japan, and it was only by chance, on Lauren's return to the UK, that she and Eoine happened to bump into each other, both describing the feeling, when they met again, as one of 'coming home'.
This is where Lois and I have a lot of things in common with bride and groom, not just that 'coming home' feeling with each other, but also because I myself spent a student year in Japan 1970-1971, and while I was there, Lois came to stay with me for a couple of weeks. And Lauren and Eoine have agreed to visit us soon at our home in Liphook, to swap stories (and photos) of our respective times in Japan, compare 'souvenir chopsticks' and examine the other souvenir Japanese 'tat', that I've got in a drawer somewhere (!), and all that malarkey (!).
Should be enormous fun haha !!!!
flashback to 1971: me and Lois in Japan, (top left) at Lake Kawaguchi
near Tokyo, (top right) halfway up Mt.Fuji, and (below) us in kimonos
at our holiday villa, with Lois doing her version of the 'tea ceremony' (!)
Sunday June 14th
On the Sunday, we attend the Sunday Morning Meeting organised by Lois and Jen's church in Oxford, a meeting being held, not in their usual church building, because it's currently being renovated, but in a room they church has hired in a local community centre.
The building is used for services by a number of different denominations, and, while Lois's church is fairly restrained and traditional when it comes to style of music and hymns etc, the church that meets on the floor immediately above is much more flamboyant, to put it mildly, and Jen says they often stamp their feet in time to the singing, and really 'put a lot into it'. Today, however, the worship going on upstairs proves to be relatively moderate, which is a relief!
Monday 15th June
(top left) Lois showcases a poster advertising the church meeting on the floor above,
and (top right, and below) Lois and Jen's church 'in session'
with Jen's daughter Naomi (right) on violin
Yes, already it's Monday, our last day here, but just time for another 90-minute walk with Jen along the Thames, which is nice! With the weekend over, Jen's son Daniel has gone into work today, at Oxford University's Bodleian Library.
Jen and Daniel have really spoiled us during our visit, with lots of nice chat and lovely meals, not forgetting Dan's 9pm 'specials' - hot chocolate with a jam tart or chocolate biscuit.
Yum yum - what's not to like haha!!!
So remember, next time you're invited to a wedding near Oxford, why not stay at your nearest friend's house? Not at Jen's, obviously, unless you happen to know her, of course - no casual callers, or 'on speccers', thank you very much, Jen has asked me to make clear !!!!!
(left) the photo that Jen's son Dan took of us three 'old codgers'
on our last evening, and (right) me starting to pack to go home tomorrow
We go home. And - uh - that's it!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!!
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