The ceremony - continued!

Welcome back dear reader! As you now know, James and I were married at this point. The deed has been done, everyone was crying and laughing and maximum drama and campiness quotient had been reached. We spent the next hour with our fabulous photographers and all of our friends. Steven and Josh don’t normally do formal shots at weddings anymore, but as we had asked they had graciously agreed to do so. I had created a shot list of 30, and Louise agreed to be crowd marshal, group organizer and in all round in charge person to help things on their way. The group shots went perfectly and I can’t wait to see them. Many thanks to Steven and Josh for doing them! After that was complete, the James and I headed off for the romantic photographs to be taken. We went to various locations around Winder Hall and had a great time! I suspect you will see many vomit inducing images of James and I gazing adoringly at each other. We rejoined our guests a short while later for a drink.

In the meantime the dining room at Winder Hall was being prepared. The fabulous team of Nick and Co transformed it into an amazing banquet hall for our guests. At 4.30pm on the dot, the call for dinner was made and all of our guests went and took their seats. Nick then called us into the room and everyone cheered. I cried…of course! Dinner was just amazing. You can find the menu on a previous blog post which details all 6 courses. The staff commented later that they had never served so many courses to so many people before, so I am pleased that we gave them a new experience too! The service and food was all beyond our wildest dreams! As course rolled into course, and everyone began to feel exceptionally stuffed, the champagne and speeches began. First toast was to our parents and their memories. As they are all now deceased it was a poignant moment that brought some more tears to many. Next up was my sister, Jane, who gave a great speech, telling many funny stories about me, and also reminding everyone of the fact that I am so much younger than her!

After that came Lisa and Ilona, the two “Best Men/Women”. They both gave really love speeches that made me blub even more and it was a very special moment to have them both with us. Sonia performed the role of “compere” and introduced all of the speeches with some of her comedic skills. James then read a letter that had been sent by my friend Simon and finally it was time for James and me to give our speeches and toasts to each other. A fab time was had by all! With the final course done it was time for a short break for everyone. We had listed this on the order of the day as “Powder Your Nose Hour”, so everyone disappeared off back to their respective rooms, hotels, corners of the world, and started to change for the evening. James and I took the opportunity to get out of our lovely suits and into blazers, khakis and some fun bright ties. I could be seen wearing an electric pink polka dot tie with a blue check shirt, while James sported an electric orange polka dot tie with a bright green striped shirt. No-one was going to lose us tonight!

The evening started at 8.30pm with the cutting of the cake. Steven and Josh had been busy doing portraits of everyone, and now with everyone ushered back into the hotel it was time to plunge the knife! The cake, made by the wonderful Lizzie, was a single tier fruit cake, adorned with blue ribbon, diamante, and sugar roses. I was a little nervous about the cutting part, but Nick assured us that all we had to do was to sink the knife in and they would do all the rest. Flash guns popped, everyone cheered, and the cake luckily stayed in one place neatly speared by the cake knife. It was all very dramatic and I felt like I had just harpooned Jaws or something with all the commotion that was going on around me. Almost immediately Nick called for the first dance and James and I took our positions on the dance floor. We had chosen “Tell Him” by Barbara Streisand and Celine Dion (of course!) and for the next few minutes we swayed and danced away with our guests staring to join us after the first chorus. Many years ago when James and I first met, we had sat listening to this song in the dark one night and it holds very special meaning to both us. Did I mention that I cried as well?

And with that, the evening was well and truly on its way. We danced, drank, ate more from the buffet and it seems that everyone had a great time. It was so nice to see all of our friends chatting, laughing and re-cementing old friendships that had been re-discovered. A magical night!

Morning came soon and before we knew what was going on it was time for “The Morning After”, a reception at the Winder Hall for everyone to re-convene and have tea, coffee, and cake. Some people had already departed as they had long drives ahead of them, but we still had around 20+ people come see us. There were a few bleary eyes from the previous night’s festivities but everyone was in great spirits! Emails were swapped, phone numbers exchanged, and gradually people started to make their way home or too the pub for lunch. We headed to the Wheatsheaf once more for lunch with those that were left and spent a leisurely afternoon just relaxing and chatting. The perfect end to the event!

Next event was on Sunday evening. We had reserved a table at The Kirkstile Inn, just about 10 minutes’ drive away for Lisa, Joel, Sonia, George, Jane, Mike, James and me. More food was just what the doctor ordered (not!) so we of course rose to the occasion and ate once more. We also sat down and worked out the new family tree! I now legally have two daughters (well in the UK at least – Sonia and Lisa), and I am also now legally a Grand Father too as Lisa has to fab kids, Jonathan and Julia. Grandpa at 43! My heavens! We also worked out that my sister is now Aunt to Lisa and Sonia, and that makes her a Great Aunt to. It was a lot of fun, and it is quite interesting to think how the family has now grown by quite a bit on both sides. I shall have to work on a new Christmas card list I can see!

And with that, the evening and the weekend drew to a close. I can’t even begin to recount how lovely it was and how special the whole event was. To think that James and I are now “legal” is amazing. Having our friends with us for the whole weekend was such a special treat, and I thank them all for coming and spending the time with us. I can’t wait to see the photographs which will help preserve the memories forever! There is one more day to blog about, the Monday, where we all had fun in London, and I’ll write about that soon. But until then,

Big Love to all!

D&J

The Wedding Day Begins....

Greetings blog friends around the world! Here I am sitting at 35000 feet somewhere over the United States on our way back home from England. I promised you all that I would write while I was on the plane, and after a 4 hour nap here I am! There will be a number of updates, so please keep up!

You saw the blog for Friday night when we had our second event at the Wheatsheaf pub. We had such a great time! Throughout the course of the evening almost everyone came to the pub with us. At one point we had 34 people there! As they had reserved a whole section for us that seated about 20 people, some ate, while others drank at the bar and then we all switched out. It turned out to be a great evening and a super opportunity for people to meet and get to know each other before the big day. Most notable event of the evening was when the landlady of the pub insisted that James and I come behind the bar and start pulling pints. She snapped a photo of us which I’ll scan and upload at some future point! It was so good to see so many of our friends having such a good time together and we hoped that it would set the tone for the weekend to come! James and I left the pub around 11.30pm to head back to the Winder Hall.

Saturday morning came quickly. I am not sure whether it was nerves or excitement, but I woke up at 5am on the dot! Unable to sleep it wasn’t long before James was awake too. We busied ourselves finishing up the few odds and ends of administration and ceremony bits and were down for breakfast at 8am. This was to be the first of many meals…..many many many meals it seems. Shortly all of our guests who were staying at the Winder Hall with us came down and a good time was had by all as usual!

Breakfast finished, James and I headed off to Cockermouth for haircuts and shaves. We had found a great barber shop where they do full face and neck massages, together with wet shaves with old fashioned cut-throat razors. You may recall, dear readers, that we have a passion for these things, with the last one being at the oldest barber shop in Lisbon, Portugal back in 2008. For those who need a recap head back through archives to either April or May 2008….. We had our haircuts and then the shaving process started. Gents, if you have never experienced one of these then I urge you to give it a whirl. They start off with moisturizers, and pre-shave conditioners, and hot towels, then you are tipped back in the chair, and the wet shave begins. It is a little worrying to start with as you are lying there and you see the blade advance toward your neck, but once you relax into the process it is amazing. Next there is more conditioner, balsams, and toners, followed by hot and cold towel massages. Simply amazing!

With that done, it was time to head back to the Winder Hall to start to get ready. We arrived back around 10.45am and nervously headed towards our suits. We had not tried them on since we had taken delivery from the tailors, and that was 7 weeks ago. Seeing as we had spent the last 3.5 weeks stuffing our faces in various pubs and bakeries, this was a moment of nerves. I (David) have put on quite a bit of weight through the trip as I had already moved up 2 notches on my belt! The trousers went on, and although exceptionally snug, they did in fact fasten up. The new concern was then not bursting out of them as we had planned a 6 course meal for us and our guests that afternoon! We continued the getting ready process, received a lovely phone call from my friend Simon in the US wishing us good luck, and then the photographers arrived. Steven and Josh spent time with our guests and with us and it was a real pleasure to have them there. Suzanne, the wedding planner at Winder Hall for us then appeared to start the final count down.

It was at this point that I started to get nervous. Now, dear reader, despite what you may all think, I am usually the un-flappable one. When everyone goes to pieces, I am usually quite calm and collected. This time I was a nervous wreck! Still, the hallway downstairs was cleared and we were ushered down to meet the registrar/justice who was to perform the ceremony. Suzanne quickly ushered us into the room where the ceremony was to occur and we had our final interview. Still a bag of nerves, I started to cry….which was a signal of things to come. I had already warned everyone that I would likely cry throughout the whole ceremony. The warning was to be true!

1.30pm crept closer and as the interview ended we were led outside by Suzanne to the outside. We had planned the whole ceremony and had a few surprises for our guests! We had kept everything quiet up till now, but the time was upon us. At 1.30pm precisely, with our guests all assemblend in the hallway, looking toward the ceremony room, and James and I behind a curtain at the other end of Winder Hall the music started……

The first piece was “Don’t Rain On My Parade”, sung by Lea Michelle who plays Rachael in Glee. As the song got to “one shot, one gun shot, and BAM” James and I fired some party poppers (that were more lack luster than they should have been) through the curtains and stepped into the hallway. Everybody turned around and saw us and the event was under way? Camp much? It was going to get much camper dear readers……we have a reputation to uphold! As the music progressed we walked down the hallway hugging and shaking hands. It was all a bit of a blur to be honest but I do remember thinking how totally gorgeous everyone looked. I of course started to cry….. We made our way to the entrance of the ceremony room just as “Don’t Rain On My Parade” reached its climax! Waiting at the entrance was our wedding party of “Lisa, Sonia (Daughters), Margaret, Shirley (Ladies of Honour), and Ilona (Best Man). We kissed, hugged, and then the next piece of music started. Yes, dear readers, the next piece was the David O Selznik fanfare that prefaces Gone With The Wind. With bells chiming and trumpets blaring, we moved aside the velvet rope that was guarding the entrance and walked into the room. James and I walked up to stand by the registrar (Sandra) and I picked up the microphone just as the Selznick fanfare ended. James and I then called out for the wedding party to join us and in they marched to stand next to us! I handed the microphone to Sonia, and the next phase of the entrance began!

The music, I hear you all ask? Yes, you have guessed correctly….the overture to Gone with the Wind started to play. With the first bars underway, Sonia started to announce our guests couple by couple into the room. We had wanted everyone to have their grand entrance, and we did! As Sonia called names out, everyone processed very grandly into the room to the music, taking their seats. It was like an award show! Everyone looked just fabulous in hats, dresses, suits, and fascinators. As everyone came into the room and the music swelled louder it was also as camp as row of pink chiffon tents…..perfect! I of course was crying my eyes out already! As Sonia announced the last guests and everyone had taken their seats the music gently finished and we were faced with a room of 34 of our dear friends. What an amazing sight. For those of you who were there, you all looked gorgeous! We took our seats at the front of the room, and our wedding party sat in the front row and the ceremony began. And then I had a terrible thought. I had left an important part of the ceremony sitting upstairs on the bed! No, not the rings, but some special cards that were to be given out to our guests during the ceremony. I stood up, said to the registrar “I’ll be right back” and bolted out of the room! Sandra thought I needed to go to the toilet apparently, but I retrieved the cards, galloped back down the stairs and was back in my seat within about 1 minute. It was hilarious, and although totally unplanned, added to the hilarity of the whole affair!

I won’t bore you all with the minutia of the ceremony, but there are a few points to call out. First point was the first reading, Shakespeare’s sonnet #29, chosen by James and read magnificently by the family actor, Sonia. She walked to the front and gave such an impassioned reading, I was mesmerized (and balling my eyes out still). Next up was our first piece of music. After all the campiness and hilarity of the opening, we had wanted to reset the tone of the ceremony to be a little more serious. We had also wanted some drama too! The Shakespeare was to be the first.

Next up was our first ceremony piece of music. As the opening chords started up, I rose from my seat and walked toward all of our guests. James and I had prepared signed cards for our guests with the lyrics to our two main songs on. These were the cards that I had left upstairs! The first piece was “Love Never Dies” the main song from the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name. As I completed handing out the cards the introduction ended and the main piece began, sang beautifully by Sierra Boggess, currently playing the lead role of Christine Daae on the London stage. If you haven’t heard this piece, head on over to YouTube and check it out. This was my music choice for the ceremony and as soon as the song started I began to cry again. The lyrics are desperately romantic and a total tear jerker. At this point a significant portion of our guests were also now crying their eyes out too! The piece concluded with much sniffing and nose blowing, and all around me I could see beautiful women with running mascara. Objective achieved!

The ceremony continued with our second reading, beautifully ready by Louise. This was my chosen reading, and it is “I Will Be Here” by Stephen Chapman. This is also a tear jerker, and by the end we had more who had joined the crying brigade. Dear readers, we know how to do drama…… After this we moved onto the central point of the ceremony, where we read our vows, and exchanged rings. It was absolutely beautiful. As the registrar moved through the ceremony, James and I repeated our vows as instructed and I continued to cry (had I ever really stopped?) Seeing James look at me as he said his vows was THE most amazing part of my life so far. The second song then began, Everything Possible, sung by Tim Seelig, conductor of the Turtle Creek Men’s Chorus. Another tear jerker! Dramarama was complete! At this point, Sandra called us forward, asked for our witnesses, Margaret and Shirley to step forward and we all signed the civil partnership register. With that, Sandra uttered her final words “I know pronounce you Civil Partners in Law” and it was done. Everyone cheered, people stood up, I cried more, and the final song, “Over The Rainbow” sung by the cast of Glee played us out.

We are now officially and legally together, and it is the most amazing feeling ever.

To be continued……

Sitting in the paranoia pen waiting to fly!

Well folks, we are on our way back home. Having passed through 5 passport and security checks we are now sitting in the special caged off areas for people on flights to america. One can only assume that someone did a cost benefit analysis and found that it was cheaper to build all this extra stuff for usa flights than it was to change our foreign policy to stop people getting mad at us...oh well.

So we are now married! I am sorry that the blogs just stopped before the wedding but understandably i was banned from blogging during the ceremony! Once we are out of the world isolation/pariah pen and on the plane i plan to have a nap and then fill you in on the weekend! I won't be able to upload though until i get access again.

So now the question is what to put on our immigration forms. Perhap when they tell i have write that i am single i should ask them for written permission to lie on a federal form, as i think it is a felony to lie on a federal form is it not? Answers on a postcard please!

So to the skys we fly!
My husband and I (makes me sound like the Queen!) will see you all soon!

Big love,

D&J

The weekend begins!

Greetings to all!  It's Saturday morning!  I just wanted to do a quick post for yesterday as it was a whirlwind!

Everyone is here safe and sound now.  The afternoon started off slowly with James and I sitting in the lounge at Winder waiting for people to arrive for the first reception.  It seems that picking a place in the middle of nowhere gives some difficulty...well, that and the M6 motorway being blocked up for hours!  But about 2.30pm people started to trickle in, and before we knew it we had a full house!  Last to arrive at Winder Hall were James' daughters and their significant others.  We were all a little nervous as to how they were going to fair with the long drive from central London, but although it took them longer than planned, they arrived safe and sound.  Christine and Sheridan took an accidental trip over one of the mountain passes, and Maria, Sarah, Margaret, and Shirley arrived safely after a mammoth trek from Hertfordshire, which involved many rest stops and losing Shirley in a service station for a brief period of time!

At around 6.30pm everyone started to head off to the local Pub (The Wheatsheaf) for dinner.  As you can see from the photo it was a pretty busy time!  We took over half of the pub and a good time was had by all!  Eloise and Stephen were the last to arrive from London at 10pm, and we are looking forward to Alison and Martin and the kids re-joining us tomorrow.

So today is now the big day!  Both James and I have been awake since 5am this morning with nerves/excitement.  We still have a few things to finish, but are well on the way.  We have wet shaves and haircuts at 9.15am in Cockermouth and then the fun will all start to begin when Steven and Josh, the photographers, arrive at 12pm.  The ceremony starts at 1.30pm.  I am sure that James will confiscate my cell phone at some point, but if possible I will try to post a few blogs during the day.  For all those who are unable to be with us, we wish you were ALL here.  We have received many messages of love and support from you all and are blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.  I'll keep you posted when I can!

Big love to all!

D&J

Size matters....seriously

Greetings dear readers.  It is Thursday evening and this blog comes from one very tired writer.  It has been a very busy few days!  Yesterday we got up at the crack of dawn (5.45am) to head to Manchester airport to pick up Ilona.  Arriving there at about 9am, it was just great to see her!  She had a decent flight over and we quickly bundled her into the car and whisked her off towards the lakes.

We had to make a quick stop in Kendal, the place where James and I had completed our residency interview a few weeks back.  Over the last few weeks we have bought various items at Marks and Spencer's, a nice department store, and we needed to complete a tax free shopping form as we are not UK residents.  We have completed many of these in the past, but Kendal had clearly not done one for about two years.  It wasn't long before James took charge and was soon giving lessons to the staff in how to fill the forms out!  Meanwhile, Ilona and I went for a look around the lingerie section.  While browsing, we stopped mesmerised.  There, hanging on a hook, in turquoise silk, with bright red ribbons ( a horrid colour scheme if ever there was one) was the biggest bra we have ever seen in our lives.  Yes, dear reader, you are reading correctly.  We are talking about bras.  Can you guess how big this was?  It was

40 GG

Yep.  Now, I am not normally an expert on bra sizes, but this one was a show stopper.  It was big enough to either take your bowling balls to the bowling alley, or, as Ilona pointed out, to hang outside your house and use for hanging flower baskets.  We toyed briefly with the idea of buying it to use as an extra piece of checked baggage, and then decided not to.  Returning to James, we rescued him from the throngs of attentive shop assistants who were now hanging on his every word and headed off.  A quick stop for lunch and we were on our way once more.  We arrived at the Winder Hall, and gleefully we all went to our rooms.  Yes, this was the day that we also said goodbye to the campsite and checked in to a room with a bed!  It is not our final destination, as on Friday we will move again into the largest room at Winder Hall, complete with four poster bed.  The rest of the afternoon was spent having a nap and finishing up a few errands before heading out to the pub for dinner.  Tonight dinner was at the Sun Inn at Braithwaite and was jolly good too.  Bedtime soon arrived, and we all crashed out for the night having decided to do a walk the following day.

Thursday dawned quickly with a fantastic breakfast in the Winder Hall.  Oh what a joy not to be sitting outside a tent frying eggs and bacon on the grass!  We dined on Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, and also Fried Eggs with Black Pudding, Bacon, Sausages, Toast, Mushrooms, and lots of coffee.  Fuel for a walk as our theory!  Then with a spring in our step, we headed off to a walk.  We decided, due to time issues, to re-do the walk that James and I had done earlier in the week.  Ilona did brilliantly slogging her way to the top of the hills with us.  It was a little windy at the top, as you can tell from the attached picture!

The afternoon was spent wondering where Joe and Cheryl, our next door neighbours from the USA where.  We knew that they we landing around 8am at Manchester, but when they hadn't arrived by 4pm ( a 2.5 hour drive) we were starting to get a little concerned.  A timely text from Louise and Andrew, informing us that the M6 motorway was closed quickly shed some light.  We got online and discovered that the motorway had been closed at 11.15am and was only just reopening, because someone had climbed onto a bridge and was threatening to jump off onto the motorway.  The motorway was not re-opened until 3.25pm when someone had finally talked the poor man down.  Joe and Cheryl finally arrived at about 5.15pm, after quite possibly the longest journey in history.  Still, they were safe and that was the most important thing!  Luckily they arrived just in time to go to the pub for dinner!  A good evening was had by all, and when I returned from the pub we also had a text from Louise and Andrew telling us that they had arrived too!  Hurrah!

So now, dear reader, I am off to bed.  We have an early start tomorrow as we still have some administration to take care of.  Then in the afternoon the whole weekend starts with the welcoming reception and Winder Hall.  I'll post plenty of pictures and try to blog throughout the day.  It should be fun with 30+ people arriving to spend the weekend with us!

So with that I'll say goodnight and of course, big love to all!

D&J

The night before the start.

Greetings, dear reader. It is tuesday night and James and I have just finished dinner. Tonight we came to The Cottage in the Wood in Braithwaite. This is the other hotel that we have chosen for some of our guests to stay at. This hotel holds a special place in our hearts as it was the first hotel in the Lake District that we stayed in together back in 2004. We had been staying in a Campsite down in Winderemere and were on our way to Scotland as part of a month long trip around Great Britain. We were fed up with camping in the rain, so decided to stop off at the first place we saw to see if they had room. That place was the Cottage! We loved it so much that we stayed 2 nights and then came back for a week a year later!

We had originally wanted to have our wedding here, but the owners, Liam and Kath were unable to accomodate the number of guests we needed It was Kath in fact who referred us to the Winder Hall. The hotel is fabulous and the restaurant is magnificent, so we are glad we came in tonight. Unusually both James and I ate the same; Smoked Haddock and Leek Risotto with a poached duck egg, on top followed by Roast Venison with swede, red cabbage and blackberries. We finished it off with a selection of cumbrian cheeses. What fun! We have given up worrying about whether we will fit in our suits on saturday, so to those who are coming this weekend, please bring plenty of safety pins for us!

So tomorrow Ilona arrives and we can't wait! Poor James has had to listen to me for 3 weeks so I am sure he is looking forward to a break and some fresh company! Last night we spent a wonderful evening with Alison and Martin and their two kids. Now as more people arrive I can feel the excitement and nerves starting to build!

We'll keep you all posted, but for now, dear readers, goodnight and big love!

D&J

In the drink....with James!

Greetings Blog Pickers!  Just a short post with a humourous picture.  Last time I posted we were heading over to @Winder Hall to have dinner and to choose the wine list (Sunday evening).  Well, we had a fabulous evening with superb food and great wines.  The wine list is now set!  Well, as yoou can imagine, after all that drinking we didn't feel that that it a good idea to drive back down the scary country lanes to the camp site.  So the ever increasingly awesome Nick drove us back in his truck.  So next morning, the question was "How do we get back to the Winder Hall"?

The answer, dear reader, was to wade across the River Cocker.  This was the river that rose to about 9 feet last december and took out half of the village of Cockermouth, the bridge at Low Lorton and ruined many homes.  But, now that it is a lot lwoer, we doned sandals, tied our boots around our necks and headed across.  Knowing how you all love details, I felt obliged to take a snap of James, intrepid explorer, in mid stream.  What a stud he is!

So tomorrow, we check into the Winder Hall for the final leg of yoour amazing trip.  We head out at 6am to pick up Ilona from Manchester airport too.  Our first guest arrives!  We'll keep you posted, maybe with a paparazzi shot of her arriving thorough the terminal!

But untill then,

Big Love,

D&J

Invasion of the Mosquitos!

Dear Readers:

By now you will have read over and over about the rain in the Lake District.  Of course, we woke up again this morning to yet more of the wet stuff.  What's worse is that I (James) am now entirely covered in mosquito bites.  My skin looks as though I have broken out with a severe case of small pox or something similar.  OK, dear readers, I know that you all know that I am sometimes prone to slight exaggeration, but I'm certain that I could now be the star of a feature film of some 1950s insect horror plot.

Thank goodness for hydrocortisone.  I am--at least for the moment--itch free. If they attack my face, I will NOT be having the wedding photographs!

Signed,

Attacked by the Mozzies!

Onwards and upwards me hearties!

Yes, dear reader, as you will now know from earlier posts, it has been a sunny day! Accordingly, we went on a hike at about 11am this morning. Here is the gorgeous James pictured at the start of it. You see that tall hill behind him? That is where we were heading.

The walk was quite a tough one as we are both out of shape due to lack of exercise and too much beer and wine over the last few weeks.
However, with some determination and plenty of rests we made it all the way to the top and back again, a total of just over 3 miles.

Now we are back at the campsite again and James is having a well deserved nap. I am taking the opportunity to catch up on some reading for once. I am about half way through The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and throughly enjoying it too.

This evening, as James already mentioned, we are heading to the Winder Hall for dinner. The main purpose of the evening is to taste some wines and champagnes so that we can put together the drinks list for next weekend. Nick will be cooking in the kitchen but will also be likely acting as our sommelier to Seeing as we have now seen him cook and mend the plumbing, we are wondering if there is any end to his talents! We will keep you posted!

So there we have it. Sonia and George should also have landed in London by now too. They will probably be all meeting up as we speak! Ilona arrives on Wednesday, followed by Joe and Cheryl on thursday. What fun! Tomorrow we have to complete the ceremony details and in the evening we will be heading off to Windermere to have dinner with Martin and Alison who have also arrived, though from the closer departure point of Essex.

With that i'll say goodbye for now as it is time to get ready for dinner. I hope all are doing well!

Big love,

D&J

A sunny day in the Lakes!

So it has stopped raining in the Lake District AND I (James) have signal on my phone. These are two minor miracles. We've just finished eating breakfast and are planning to go on a hike. Normally by this point in a trip we would have completed many hikes by now, but the weather had not cooperated. We've also had many tasks to tend to with the upcoming nuptials.

Today looks to be good. A walk this morning followed by dinner at the Winder Hall and a meeting with the owner to select the wines and champagnes. Of course, we'll have to taste them!

Well, that's it for now. Off to do dishes, shower, and on with the rest of the day.

Morning in the camp site

Greetings all!

The sun is shining at last! For those of you who are wondering where we have been staying, here is The Homestead.

Big Love to all!

D&J

Goodnight everyone!

Just got back from dinner at a local indian restaurant in Whitehaven. Now it's time for bed! James is of course reading as you can see, while I, dear reader, tap away on the phone to all of you!

Today was the first day it didn't rain all day. But we spent most of the day inside various places doing admin tasks. We met with Suzanne at Winder Hall and finally got to meet the owner Nick. What a super chap he turned out to be, in fact every bit as nice as his email personality!

Tomorrow is more admin as we are off to meet the lady who is baking our wedding cake! Yum!

So goodnight dear readers. We'll speak to you all soon!

Big love,

D&J

Back in the lakes again.

Well, we got back to the lakes this evening about 7.30pm. Guess what...it's raining!

The tent is still standing and seems to have remained totally waterproof during our absence. I have to admit to having been a little nervous about leaving it unattended for 7 days with the Lake District weather being what it is, but hats off to Nemo for making a solid piece of kit.

Tomorrow we will be back on the wedding trail again. We will be at the Winder Hall doing some more touches to the weekend plans and then hopefully off to see Lizzie the cake baker to discuss the final devils for the cake decorations. We are also looking forward to hearing from Lisa, James' oldest daughter who we think should be safely in Paris by now. We'll keep you posted.

So now, having just finished dinner in the pub it is back to the tent. We'll touch base tomorrow!

Big love to all,

D&J

Adios a Menorca!

Greetings dear reader. It is thursday morning and we are on our way back to England once more. Sorry for not Blogging more while we were in Menorca but the time has just rushed by. We have had such a great time with all of our friends and were able to spend every day apart from one evening with Denise.

The attached shot is one that will be entered into the Salgar history book. It was taken at about 2am on wednesday morning outside the Reina. The beauties flanking James are Christine and Maria. We had earlier been for dinner with Maria as it was her last night. Unfortunately,coffee at the Reina turned into brandys, wine, cointreau, and two bottles of sparkling wine. Bed time came at around 3.30am for all.

I was up and about at 8am and thought i would check that Maria had not overslept. She had not and was busy dealing with the mother of all hangovers. It was so bad that flying was out of the question. So, with laptop in hand, i headed off and booked her a new plane ticket for the next day instead. So that is how Maria came to be on time same flight as us!

So now, dear reader, having been delivered to the airport by the gorgeous Christine, we are in the air. We will be landing back in Luton airport in a few hours and then heading back to the lakes once more. In just 9 days time we will be getting married! There is still much to do. We'll keep you posted!

Big love,

D&J

To the skies we go!

We are off and flying! Hurrah!

See you back in England. Thanks to all our friends in Menorca. We'll be back in a few years we hope!

Big love to all!

D&J

The post of love.

So here I am on sunday evening sitting outside the Hotel Xoroy
in Cala Alcaufar. I have no idea when this post will make it to the blog as i have no data service on my phone here on the island. So this will likely be horribly out of sequence in our travels. But here is James, the man I love with all my heart sitting reading his book. He is just so gorgeous that I had to post how much I love him.

James, I can't wait for our ceremony on August 21st. I love you!

Big love to all,

DavidM

The Lost Weekend.....

Well, dear reader, after a little nap on Thursday afternoon, we headed down to the Reina Isabel for dinner. And that is about all I can remember. So there. I think there must have been some kind of cosmic radiation over the island, because I can’t really remember much about the evening at all and neither can James. I remember that we had dinner at the Reina, and we had drinks at the Reina. Then I remember the Top Totties from Tottington appearing and asking us to go to the El Pirata for drinks. We asked for our bill, it took ages to arrive, by which time Christine and Sheridan had come looking for us again. So, with me in charge of Denise in her wheelchair we headed to the Dinky Bar instead!

To give a little context, the Dinky Bar is on the sea front at S’Algar. For years it was a little coffee and snack bar that also served alcohol too. But it was always closed in the evening I seem to recall. No-one could understand why as it has the best location of all. Anyway, years ago someone woke up to this fact and it is now the hopping bar of S’Algar. So we spent a couple of hours there laughing, chatting, and watching all of the 20 year olds having a good time. There is nothing like watching the youngsters of today to make you feel a little older. Good on them! We had a super time and depending on who you ask it was either 1.30am or 2.45am when we all went to bed. I haven’t a clue to be honest!

Friday was spent on the sea front. I have become a little concerned with sun bathing recently, after listening to a fascinating show on NPR back in the USA about it. So although I would like to acquire a little bit of colour before the wedding, I am not attempting to tan like I used to. Accordingly I scoured the apartment for some suitable sun cream to wear. I found some factor 50 and headed to the front. James headed off for a walk across the rocks to Cala Alcaufar. Never having used factor 50 before I squeezed a large dollop out onto my legs. Oh My God…this stuff was so thick that it took forever to work in to my skin. By the time I had finished I was almost totally white from head to toe. I guess that is how it works, because I shone like a beacon on the front, reflecting sunlight for miles around. Feeling a little conspicuous I quickly lay down and hoped that no one would notice me. No such luck. James of course appears loudly proclaiming “Oh my God you are so white!” Nice….. Actually, by now some of it had worn off/worked further in, so now I bore an uncanny resemblance to Marcel Marceau, the French mime artist. Resisting the urge to stand at the front and do the whole mime/sliding doors thing I settled for lunch instead with James. Perfect!

That evening we headed out at around 8pm. Tonight was the first night of the S’Algar fiesta. When I was a kid the fiesta was a big highlight of the year, with a parade, games, and a famous competition involving a greasy pole. Before you all start sniggering, I never did participate in the greasy pole competition, which involves trying to balance on a greasy pole above the ocean. See….get your minds out of the gutter people. The highlight of tonight’s opening of the Fiesta was a huge Paella for 1000 people. Now THAT is mass catering! We duly lined up with Denise, Maria, and The Totties and surprisingly it was quite good. Washed down with a few glasses of sangria, we had a super time and were ready for an evening of dancing. The band struck up, and all of a sudden we were mesmerized by 1000 Menorquians doing a line dance to Achy Breaky Heart. Some things will stay with you forever….. We danced too, and once our friend Jenne appeared, she and I did a manic dance that slightly resembled a hair dryer being thrown into a bath tub. It was great fun, and, a little exhausted, we returned Denise to her house, and then retired to Christine and Sheridan’s house on the front. This time we were joined by Pauline, or Granny Tottie (GT for short…). We were also accompanied by a strange man called Nick and his dog Truck. Much laughter, many drinks and hilarity later, we realized that Nick had gone and left us with Truck. Way to go Nick! Beats getting a pet sitter I suppose. Just find some random group of people, tag along with them, and when they all get shit-faced, leave the pooch with them and bugger off. The next part of the evening involved Christine lying face down on a couch pretending to be unconscious, Sheridan shrieking at her mother in concern because she thought she was unconscious, GT throwing Cava over everyone, the dog licking everyone and trying to climb off the balcony, and a good time being had by all. I am not sure who the good time was who was had by all, but I vaguely remember Nick returning some time later with a frizzy haired woman from somewhere, collecting his pooch and leaving. ‘Nuff said…..

Morning came with a loud bang. Literally. The parade was launched with a marching band and cannon. When you have a hangover like a juggernaut there is nothing like a marching band outside of your window. Yes, dear reader, this all happened. I am not making any of this up. Roused from our sleep we dashed outside to be faced with 12 foot high Paper Mache (sp) baby. It waved at us. Slightly startled, we waved back. Then it shot water at us with a big water pistol. We were now officially awake. The parade moved on, the vuvuzelas blew, the drums banged and we saw Totties waving in the distance. Ah the joys of summer!

Saturday afternoon was spent at Jenne’s house with her and her mother Betty. We had a great time catching up and chatting. It is lovely to be back with all of our friends. We just wish we had a little longer to be here. The afternoon rolled into the evening, and before we knew it we were all back at the Reina for dinner. After all of the shenanigans of the previous nights, this was a far more sedate affair. John and Sarah, our friends from just outside of S’Algar joined us for a few hours too. Those of you who have been following the blog for a while will remember them from our exploits before. We spent a pleasant evening just chatting and watching the world go by. The evening finished up with the fiesta fireworks, and, feeling a little sluggish, we all kissed our goodbyes and headed to bed.

So now, dear reader, it is Sunday morning. In 30 minutes we will be picking up Denise, duly re-christened the Duchess of S’Algar, and we are heading to see some other good friends, Sue and Alex for Sunday lunch. I can’t wait! Sue and Alex are fabulous people and although we have only known them for a few years, they have been so welcoming to us. Alex has also told me that I can upload to the blog from his PC, so by the time you read this, I will likely be eating roast beef!

And that, dear reader is that. I’ll keep writing and will post more when I can. We hope all are doing well in their parts of the world!

Big love,

D&J

Palms, Hymens…and everything in between!

Well, we have arrived in Menorca. It is good to be back! I am currently having more technical issues, in that I can’t get data access on my phone here. So I have decided to carry on and write blogs anyway, and then as soon as I get signal on my laptop somewhere I can upload them.

This morning came oh so quickly. The alarm went off at an unhealthy 3.30am in the Hotel Ibis. A quick shower and we were off and running…well, off and walking anyway. The terminal was just a short walk and when we arrived at 4.15am it was just heaving with people. One of the disadvantages of flying with low cost airlines is that the slots they use are often at anti-social hours. This was no exception. We arrived at the Easy Jet check-in, (or as I like to call them, Beastly Jet) and checked in Not having opted to check bags we made our way with our two pieces of carry on through the throngs and entered security. Now, as someone who has travelled a fair bit in his time, I like to think that I am quite prepared. Not, it seems , this time. We took off shoes, belts, etc. and sent everything through. Along comes the stern faced man. “Do you have liquids in your bag sir”? “Oh gosh, yes”, I replied. He opened the bag. Fished out a few items and I put them into the clear plastic bag. Back into the scanner went everything. Back came the stern faced man. “Any more, sir?” “Ummmmm….maybe”, I replied. Back Into the bag he went and pulled out a pot of jam that I had packed for breakfast. And also some extra shower gel and some other toiletries…oh well!

Finally the bag went through unscathed. With red faces, we headed off to the gate. Now for those of you who have never flown on Beastly Jet (or Ryan Air, a similar outfit) it is a total experience. Your tickets are really cheap, and the level of service is commensurate. I paid 70gbp for the two round trip tickets to Menorca from Luton. When you add in taxes and fees, it was about 140 pounds. That’s about $250, so it is a really good deal. The kicker is that you have to pay for everything on board, there is no seating assignments either, and you can pay a few pounds for priority boarding. You also have to pay to check bags. But still, the total cost of flying is desperately cheap and the service level is the same as what you get these days on a US carrier…coz you have to pay for all the same stuff there…’nuff said.

Anyway, once on board the plane it was a pleasure to find that it was only half full, a really unusual occurrence on Easy Jet. The seats are really close together on these planes, so it was nice to be able to stretch out a little. The flight was good, and despite the fact that they were selling copies of the Daily Mail, Hello magazine and their very own scratch cards offering the chance to win 10,000 pounds, entirely uneventful. Uneventful is good with regard to airline flights….

Once at Mahon airport, we decided to head into the capital to take care of some business issues first. First stop was the solicitors/lawyers office. Every year they file my tax return for me in Spain, and I pay them a chunk of change. As I have no money, no income, and only a condo to my name, the tax return is likely really simple. So with James in tow we showed up to get copies of the tax return. As expected, we received a copy of the form and there were two boxes on it that need filling out. So guess who is doing the tax return in future. I love my future husband even more now…..

Next up was a quick trip to the Orange shop to sort out (yes you guessed it) some mobile phone issues. Last November the Spanish government introduced a new law that said that all Pay As You Go sim cards for Mobile/Cellular telephones had to be registered to a passport number. Well, we didn’t know about that law until we tried to use the SIM cards a month ago. James’ card was fine, but mine was as dead as a doornail. A little bit of research online told us about the law and also stated that any money on your account was protected and could be applied to a new number. Yes, dear reader, you know what is coming don’t you….

As James’ card was still active, it was a simple matter of adding his passport number. De nada, or no problem. When it came to mine, the assistant pouted and said that there was nothing that could be done. James persisted and she finally agreed to call the call centre. They were less helpful and told us that we would have to fly to either the mainland or to Palma, Majorca to sort it out. Yes, that is right. They want us to fly to another land mass to have 40 euros transferred to a new account. So now I have a new telephone number instead, and we will continue to work on this issue. For your reference, dear reader, here our Spanish phone numbers to add to you ever growing lists….

James :- +34 691 153 710

David :- +34 615 342 397

As always, texts and calls are always welcome……

So, business done, we headed back toward the bus station. On the way there we stopped in at the bakery that we used to frequent. As we entered, the owner greeted us with a “Where have you been? It is ages since you were here…..” It was so nice to be recognized after 2 years. I think it is all down to James and his charisma, as after 30 years of coming here no-one ever remembers me! With chocolate “palmeras” (chocolate cakes in the shape of palm leaves) in hand we headed on our way once more. A few steps later and, yes it started to rain. The clouds rolled over head, the sun disappeared and the heavens opened. It seems that the weather fairy has followed us once more. Still, undaunted by this, we carried on, only to be greeted by a woman waving frantically from a door way at us. It was the librarian from San Luis in Menorca, who we also hadn’t seen for two years. Again, I think it must be James’ personality, or perhaps the fact that we are always dressed in matching outfits…even in the rain. The librarian’s name is Ximena, pronounced “He-Men-Ah”, or, as I like to refer to here “The Hymen lady”. It was lovely to see her, and after kisses in the rain and a promise to come and see her in the library next week, we sloshed forward once more. A quick trip on the bus and we were back in S’Algar once more.

Having dropped off our bags at our friend Maria and Bob’s place as I had a guest in my apartment until the Friday morning, we made our way down to the main square of S’Algar. Once there, we started to run into many people that we know all at once. Phillip, Claire, and their girls, Elaine, Kate, Paul, Jennifer, and lurking in the corner, Denise and Maria. Denise is one of my oldest friends on the island and she had a stroke about 6 months ago. She is still recovering from the effects, but is, in her own inimitable way, forging ahead in life the same as ever. It was good to see all of our friends who we have missed so much over the last two years. The afternoon was passed pleasantly with lunch at the Reina Isabel, the main restaurant in the square, and then a well-earned nap! Had to look our best for the evening of course!

And so, dear reader, that was our first day. Is there more I hear you cry? Of course there is! But for Saturday night and Sunday Morning, you’ll just have to wait won’t you!

Big love,



D&J

Menorca bound...

We are off! See you on the beach!

Big love

D&J

A night in the Ibis

Greetings Blog pickers! Just a short update to say that we are safe and sound in our hotel in Luton. Basic but quite comfortable and we of course picked up a bottle of wine for the hotel room.

So now we are sitting on the bed, drinking wine and eating cheese, watching the Spanish weather forecast. The man is speaking so fast that i cannot keep up, but the pictures tell me all i need to know...yes folks it is going to be raining in Menorca tomorrow! Oh well, at least we will be prepared..

Our check in time is 445am tomorrow. Boy do we love those early morning flights. I'll have to skip the cold medicine tonight methinks...

We may be out of touch for a day or two when we arrive. Due to a new Spanish law, my sim card has been deactivated. First stop is the Orange store to get it sorted. James' phone should be fine though so you can reach us on his spanish number which is +34 691 153 710. As soon as we can we will be back online with the blog. Next update may well be from the beach! James will be the one in the pink flamingo swim shorts...

Big love to all!

D&J

Onward to España!

Hiya! Y'awrite? James here practicing the northern vernacular. We've just left the campsite, dropped off our bags at the Winder Hall, and are now headed down to London to catch a flight early tomorrow morning to Menorca. The sun is shining for the first time just as we leave the Lake District, but isn't that the way it always goes? I don't think my northern accent will serve me well down south, but oh well. I have five hours in the car to practice me cockney.

This photo of David is one of the few you'll see of him. I am defo not the photographer! (More northern for you! ) He's the one always doing the driving on the left side of the road, thank goodness!

Perhaps I'll write more later on. For now I have to look up at the road so I don't get dizzy.

Bye for now!

James

Breakfast Time

Morning all!

Just a quick post now that the mobile blog is up and running. Hungry? I am!

Big love,

D&J

Dull place number 1.

Tried some mobile Blogging yesterday but i used the wrong email address, so here goes again!

This afternoon we want to a little village called Maryport, just outside of the lake district. It was a pretty grim place but the wind did give James a nice hair do.

Be warned...never come to Maryport.

Big Love

D&J

Demons, Seeds, and a nasty cold

Greetings all...

Before you ask, yes it is still raining.  We have now entered our 9th straight day of rain in the lake district.  The saying "Rain before 7, fine by 11" clearly has a veto option for the lake district.....unless they are referring to month numbers of course!

On Saturday we decided to venture outside of the Lakes for a while.  We did, and guess what..it wasn't raining there!  We spent a lovely afternoon at Brough Castle and Brougham Castle, two English Heritage properties about 50 miles away from where we are staying.  I won't go so far as to say that the weather was wonderful, but it was nice to have a little break from the rain.  The odd break in the clouds also meant that I was able to break out the camera for a short while.  More than a little rusty, due to my summer being devoted to Cisco and wedding plans, I was a little nervous at first, but soon got into the swing of it.  I even spent some time with a standard lens on my camera...that didn't last long though, and soon I was back to my beloved lensbaby kit.  I shot some images of James, one of which is attached here.  A little different from my normal work...maybe a new direction?

Afterwards we headed back into Cockermouth.  You may recall, dear readers, that we had reservations at "The Bitter End" for dinner.  We dined on Supremes of Pheasant, pan fried in butter with Juniper and Thyme, with Roasted Garlic Mash Potato, Parsnip Crisps, and a selection of vegetables. Totally awesome, and for those of you who think that English food is bland, I am very sorry to have to disappoint you!

Sunday was to be a trip to see my sister in Congleton.  The drive there was about 3 hours and we spent the day with Jane and Mike and ate lots.  It didn't rain there either, which was nice.  Then, back to the rainy lakes of course.   I have developed a nasty cold as well, which is annoying (which also gave me a bunch of bad dreams too...or maybe it was the scotch and ibuprofen?).  We haven't had a single chance to do any walking yet, and it looks like we won't this week either.

On Monday we had an important task to complete.  This was the day that we would give notice for our Civil Partnership in Kendal, having completed our residency requirements.  We arrived (with me sniffing a lot) at the register office to met by two ladies who would process our application.  One was the spitting image of Patricia Routledge (Mrs Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances) and the other was the spitting image of her next door neighbouor, Elizabeth.  Every time something went wrong with the registrars computer she would call the other lady "Lynne, come here please" in this stentorian voice, and Lynne would scurry over to fix things.  It was somewhat hard to keep a straight face through it all, but after a whole hour of Mrs Bucket tapping away at the keyboard we were duly processed.  Now the notice of Civil Partnership has to be displayed for 14 days before we can get hitched.  Our residency is now complete, so we can leave the area officially.  Accordingly, we are heading off to Menorca on Thursday for a week!  Pray that the rain doesn't go with us.....

Today, with me still full of the cold, it looks like the sun might be out for a few hours in between the constant rain.  We are heading into Keswick and plan on taking it easy for once.  James has a bunch of paperwork to catch up on, and I need to blog a little too.  Can't disappoint our readers!  I'm hoping that the weather may brighten up tonight and that I feel a little better, as I would like to buy some venison to cook at the campsite....I'm thinking of some Aged Venison medallions with some Juniper, red wine reductions, and new potatoes....anyone want to come visit!

So that's all folks!  Tomorrow (Wednesday) we drive down to Luton for the night and then head out to Menorca early on Thursday morning.  We'll keep you posted as to where we are!

Big Love to all,

D&J