Reading, then Wedding
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2003
1
41
92
Trip End
Apr 21, 2004
Reading, Castle Headingham and Lavenham,
United Kingdom
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
After dinner that evening, I managed to stay awake just long enough to watch Aston Villa beat Chelsea in the Premiership, but that was to be the extent of my consciousness. Annoyingly, neither of us completed a full night of sleep, with Andrea waking up at 3.30 am (feeling hungry!). We got up fairly early and drove over to Reading for some final attempts at Christmas shopping and to spend the evening with my ex-house-mate and good mate, Grant (a.k.a Fatman).
Andrea flew round the shops like a Whirling Dervish, while I had time to saunter around and enjoy a relaxing coffee (as I had already got the majority of presents from NZ). When we arrived at Grant's in the mid-afternoon, we were greeted by his five year old son, Tom. He was as full of beans as ever, and we spent much of the day playing with him whilst simulataneously trying to talk to Grant about our travels.
Crooning with the lads
Katie (another friend of ours) came round later in the evening, and Grant cooked us up a delicious meal, before we bored them both to tears with our trip photos (we probably have about 1500 altogether!).In the morning, Tom sat quietly (which is pretty hard to believe!) with Andrea, watching one of his films, while I chatted some more with Grant. It was really good to catch up with him, after so long with only email correspondence. Andrea and I both felt that although we had been gone for four months, that within minutes, it was just like no time had passed at all.
Saying our goodbyes, we then returned to Andrea's folks for lunch and dinner, then headed off to my parents to catch up with my brother, before we continued on to Rich and Jo's wedding in nearby Suffolk. It was a hectic schedule, but we wanted to try and see as many friends and family as we could, during our brief return home.
We left my mum and dad's house in Maldon during the morning so that I could meet up with Rich and Jo at the hotel in Lavenham, where their wedding reception was to be held. This was the primary reason for our return home over Christmas, as Rich had asked me to be his best man, and kindly paid for my flight back from NZ. Our room at The Swan was lovely (certainly one of the best we had stayed in for a long time!) and we took full advantage of the tv and stereo (being deprived of both for some time) as we settled in.
I joined Rich and Jo for a meeting with the hotel manager and was also told of my best man duties over a couple of pints.
Disco Divas
As the day wore on, more guests arrived and the afternoon gradually merged into an evening of quiet, sociable drinking and eating. Following tradition, Jo disappeared until the following morning and the ceremony, whilst Andrea and I could only last until about 10 pm (jet-lag, of course!).We met up with Rich and some of the others over breakfast and decided upon a plan for the next couple of hours before the ceremony at Headingham Castle. I went back to our room to make some last-minute adjustments to my speech (which took ages) and as a result, only just managed to get dressed in time to drive with Rich to the castle.
After a minor detour due to Sudbury's one-way system, we made it to the castle in time to greet the arriving guests. Rich did not really appear nervous at all, but throughout the day my stomach was churning in anticipation of delivering my speech.
The ceremony was conducted in the medieval keep, which provided a wonderful setting. Swords and stags hung from the walls and the room, draped in flags and ivy, was lit by numerous candles. Jo looked great in her wedding dress, complete with daisy chain in her hair, and once they had exchanged rings, the newly married couple sat regally in the high-backed chairs, signing their certificate.
Drinks and canapes followed back at The Swan, although proceedings were given a slight twist due to a powercut in the village. Soon it was time for us to all be seated, and I took my place at the end of the top table, whilst Andrea sat with friends Brian and Lindsey and Craig and Emma.
Freezing outside the Keep
I struggled through my food, conscious that the time was fast approaching whereby I would have to stand up in front of the 100 or so assembled guests and try to appear confident and witty.Jo's mum and Rich, both gave fantastic speeches, full of emotion and sincerity, which made it all the harder for me to follow. After a deep breath and plenty of encouragement from Rich's mum and dad, I stood up and began speaking. Thankfully, everyone laughed in the right places, and I only stumbled over one part, and in all, I think it went fairly well.
During the evening's entertainment, a few people came across to congratulate me on my speech (which I was very grateful to receive) and by that time, relief and alcohol had taken hold and I began to enjoy myself! Throughout the evening, we had a great time chatting to friends from university, or people who earlier were strangers and I was dragged up a number of times to join in with the karaoke. Andrea could not be persuaded to inflict, sorry, exhibit her voice to the other party-goers, but she did dance for much of the evening, whilst I sat drinking (sociably, of course!).
Just after midnight and whilst the superb buffet was being cleared away, Rich and I performed our universally acclaimed 'Blakey' (from 'On The Buses') impression. It was very well received by the few remaining guests, although, admittedly, these were all mates from university, who had egged us on in the first place.
That last paragraph will mean absolutely nothing to many of you who have actually taken the trouble to read down this far. Suffice to say it was a little bit of silliness carried over from our student days, and I do have video evidence for those who are interested or intrigued!
Dan and Andrea
