Frenetic Weekend Malarky
5 Things:
- It was my 29th birthday on Saturday
- It was my cousin Ian's wedding on Saturday
- The wedding was in England
- I was an usher, as previously discussed
- Nikki got a new car yesterday
Fun, games, frustration, hilarity, love, and so much more...
So yeah, I am now one year away from being 'old'. As I was a bit busy what with [see paragraphs 2 & 3], I didn't have a real 'party', but what with being wished happy birthday at midnight on Friday with a bevvy of pints and some Karaoke, then being wished happy birthday once more (somewhat embarrasingly) during both the groom's and best man's speeches, and recieving some awesome pressies (including flying lessons from my lovely missus), it turned out to be a great birthday. And having the entire bride's side of the family saying "oh, he's the one who's birthday it is" constantly all evening Saturday and most of Sunday wasn't annoying at all. Not in the slightest.
The wedding was great fun. It was in a tiny little village near Marlborough called Milton Lilbourne, with the reception a 5 minute walk from the church at Kate's (the bride) parents' house, in a huge marquee. The food was great, the best man's speech was the best ever, and the dancing was drunken and flailing. Nikki cried 4 times, during the ceremony when the bride was doing the whole 'I, Katherine, take you, Ian...' thing and her voice went a bit wobbley, and during the Brides father, Groom and best man's speeches. Best wedding I've ever been at, bearing in mind I'm not (yet) married.
Getting to the wedding was not so much fun. Our flight was delayed 2 hours in Dublin on Friday evening due to thunderstorms around the airport, and being a Friday, before the FA cup final at that, Terminal A (aka the 'Ryanair Terminal') was totally crammed with weekend travellers. Our gate was changed three times (during which we very nearly ended up on a flight to Krakow), and when we finally got on the plane it was another 45 minutes before we even moved, due to 'refuelling delays due to electrical interference from the thunderstorms' (or something). Taking ten hours getting from Nikki's to the hotel in Marlborough was not in our plan for the day. But it ended up with drunken karaoke so it wasn't all bad.
Being an usher involved me being the best man's PA (aka 'holding onto his "backup speech" and phone'); taking the groom for a swift pre-wedding bevvy ('I haven't even got a clue what I want to drink... Err... Give me a pint.. no, a half, of err... XXX? I s'pose'...[5 mins later]... 'I don't even want this now... let's just go'); handing out orders of service to everybody at the church door; shouting at my two sisters, my brother-in-law, my girlfriend and the best man's girlfriend to hurry the fuck up and overtake the bride on the steps of the church or they'd be locked out of the ceremony; organising the photographs at the reception; and generally hanging about, drinking, eating, smoking and looking cool in a top-drawer tin o' fruit.
Nikki, in a bout of extreme pissed-offedness at the extended delays we are experiencing in waiting for a completion notice for our lovely new 3-bed duplex, has indeed bought herself a brand-spanking-new metallic black Seat Ibiza 1.2 Costa Plus to 'cheer herself up' (and she'd been looking for a new car for a while and just needed any excuse). It's a beauty I have to say, really nice. I am, of course, insanely jealous, but have been informed that I can drive it 'whenever I like', so I will be taking full advantage of this generous offer at every available oppertunity. In other news, Nikki is selling her old car, pictured here. Enquiries to the email address at the bottom of the sidebar, please.
In other news, i'm insanely busy at work, really up to my tits, but strangely, I seem to be almost nearly on top of everything. I think.
4.21-en
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Comments
Sounds about the only way I'd see Nikki in Ibiza.
So you missed the FA cup. Most inconsiderate of your cousin, it was a cracker.
Oh and happy birthday.
Posted by: Adrian | May 17, 2006 7:32 AM
Match, it was the best mans girlfriend, not the grooms girlfriend, get it together man, also cant believe you never said anything about my wonderful karaoke performance!!
Posted by: Babs | May 17, 2006 8:39 AM
Don't remind me about missing the FA cup, I'm totally pissed about it, and still haven't seen any of the goals.
And err... Ahem. Corrected Babs. :-)
Posted by: Matt | May 17, 2006 9:52 AM
I know all about the airport closure. I was stuck for 5 hours in Heathrow trying to get back too. The poxy terminal was jammed with people waiting on their delayed flights and the air conditioning couldn't cope. It was sweltering. When they cancelled the flight before mine the cranky people really started to appear.
Finally left at 0100 on Saturday morning. I got home at 02:30 tired and very hating Heathrow even more.
Posted by: sliabh | May 17, 2006 11:55 AM
Well, an hour and a half from Heathrow to Shankill isn't too bad, really.
And at least Heathrow HAS air-conditioning!
Posted by: Matt | May 17, 2006 1:45 PM
Well on that spanking new car....on my way to work today I arrived early so decided to check out the back seat - how much space was back there and all that. A simple task you would think?
I left my bags outside, climbed into the back seat and shut the door. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, I had the childlock on the back doors of the car.
Yes. I managed to lock myself into my OWN CAR.
Car drives up beside me and I pretend to be looking at the floor in the back of the car. Man in car beside me leaves car and heads into office. I climb over my brand new seats into the front of the car to let myself out.
How long does this cluelessness last?
Posted by: NKL | May 17, 2006 3:19 PM
This 'cluelessness' I would actually describe as 'silliness', and in your case, I believe it's a permanent condition. :-P
So you had the childlock on? Are you getting ideas or something missy?!
Posted by: Matt | May 17, 2006 4:04 PM
Actually I am blaming you.
You were the one that made me play with the buttons that locked the windows in the back.
Its all your fault.
Posted by: NKL | May 17, 2006 4:10 PM
Only you could do that Nikki.
ROTFL.
Posted by: Adrian | May 17, 2006 4:11 PM
You're blaming ME?! I didn't make you do anything, I was only showing you how to operate your new toy.
And while you're ROTFL Adrian, I'm ROTFLMFAO.
Anyone else think Nikki's last comment reads very much like a blog post? Just me?
Posted by: Matt | May 17, 2006 4:25 PM
Belated happy birthday (from your over-the-hill, nay, positively ancient friend.)
Posted by: annie | May 17, 2006 8:02 PM
30 isn't over the hill Annie! It's just old. Well, old-er I mean.
And I hear life begins at 40 (but I've only heard that from old people).
Posted by: Matt | May 17, 2006 11:29 PM