In Which I Come Over The Pond And My Brother Gets Married / Monday, May 07, 2007
Well I'm here, typing on my mothers computer. I got here on Sunday, and I would've been more frequent with my posts but I've been very busy! I'm still busy actually... So much to do and so little time to do it! So here's a quick(ish) rundown of my week.
SATURDAY
We got to the airport on time and everything, the biggest hassle on the way over was getting the car seat and stroller and Toby all through the security. Toby was fine on the plane, a little crabby for the first half an hour and then he fell asleep. An hour later someone came over the loudspeaker and shouted "IF you would like to sign up for a United credit card...." and Toby woke up crying. Apart from that he was fine. On the next flight they tried to put us in a normal row (instead of the bulkhead) but Toby was kicking the lady in fronts seat and was far too cramped in there anyway, so they realized the error of their ways and put us in the bulkhead. (The crazy thing about this is that had we not paid for the extra seat for Toby we'd have automatically got the bulkhead!)
SUNDAY
So we landed at about 7:45ish in the morning. Linda and mother were both there to meet us. They had to be so we could get all our stuff back! We got back to the house and had bacon buttys and had a nap. I woke about an hour later and started phoning friends, Shuaib said they were having a kickabout (footie) at the park. That gave me a minor dilemma. Sleep like I should do (I had maybe 5 hours sleep in the last 36) or play footie like I haven't in 4+ years... So obviously I played footie! Then Ash, Toby and I went to the pub to meet my dad, we had a couple of drinks, we went and had fish and chips (battered sausage for me!) and I went back to the pub to meet up with my friends for a few jars. I staggered in at 11:30ish I guess, had a nightcap, and went to bed.
MONDAY
We drove all the way to Scotland (Glasgow to be precise. Blanefield to be even more precise.)We were happily greeted by Aunty Marian and Uncle Bill. That was pretty much most of the day.
TUESDAY
Mother, Toby and I drove over to Edinburgh Toby and I got fitted for our kilts, Toby met Dave and Angie for the first time. They loved him (how could you not?) I met Angie for the first time. She's a very nice lass. We went to their place for a cup of tea and I met Glen, Angie's 5 year old son. He's a cutie. Then we came back to Blanefield.
WEDNESDAY
Mother, Linda, Aunty, Unc, Toby, Dave and I went to Loch Lomand for a barbecue. Much fun was had by all. Toby had fun throwing pebbles into the loch. Mother helped evade an attack by a swan. In the evening Mother, Linda, Dave, and I went to the pub. We came back, Mother went to bed, I bought out a bottle of bourbon I bought over and me and my bro and sis continued drinking until the wee hours. I went up to go to to bed and Ashley was up with a sick Toby. I immediately sobered up and told Ash to sleep on the couch and I would look after Toby. Fell asleep holding Toby in my arms. (The best way to fall asleep by the way!)
THURSDAY
Didn't do much during the day, we went to Milngavie (pronoucned Mill-guy) and did a little shopping, that was about it really. In the evening mother and I drove back over to Edinburgh for a wedding rehearsal. It's a very nice church and the vicar was from Buffalo, NY. Afterwards mother and I drove back to Blanefield again.
FRIDAY
We drove back over to Edinburgh I got dropped off at Dave and Angie's house and Ash, Toby and Mother went to my cousin Catherine's house. She has two children so was well prepared to help out with Toby, who was doing a little better by now by the way. The last couple of days he'd just been sleeping. He's been diagnosed with Teething and too much excitement/not enough sleep.
At Angie and Dave's house I just tried to stay out of the way. People were rushing about everywhere! I got booze for the evening and wrote my best man speech (always leave things up until the last minute!) Mark Venning and Simon Allison (Floyd to his mates) turned up, and we all went round to one of Angie's sisters house for drinkypoos.
SATURDAY
Woke up a little worse for wear, but not that bad. We went to the driving range in the morning and hit a few balls, the we went and had a cooked breakfast. After that we realized we were kind of short on time for getting ready for the wedding. We got back to Danielle's (the sisters) house and had an hour to get ready. There was four of us. So after a lot of rushing around we all jumped in Dave's car and race over to the church.
Angie decided to turn up 45 minutes late. That's alright though, it's pretty much expected. Dave did start getting a bit tetchy after half an hour though... Wedding went well, I didn't drop the rings or anything. Angie looked beautiful and Dave looked happy. (Angie looked happy, and Dave looked very handsome as well, but you could probably figure that out by yourselves..)
The reception, and my speech, fortunately there was a lot of faffing about so everyone was growing impatient and hungry, so I cut my speech short, and took out all the uncertain parts. As it was, it lasted about 30 seconds to a minute. Oh well I covered most of the major points. Everyone had lots of fun, Toby was enjoying himself hiding under tables and the other kids were enjoying themselves telling em where he was. I got to catch up with my cousins and some old friends and everyone enjoyed themselves. A nice guy who I'd basically only said hello to had offered to drive us (Ash, Toby and I) back to Catherine's house which is pretty much on the other side of Edinburgh. I am very grateful to him for that.
SUNDAY
Chilled around Catherine's house for a while, played Guitar Hero with Fraser (Catherine's hubby)went over to Dave and Angie's house, had a cup of tea, and mother drove us back to Blanefield.
MONDAY
Drove back to England (Reading to be precise. Woodley to be even more precise.) and wrote this.
Pictures to follow. I know you want to see Toby in a kilt. They're all the camera right now, I'll see if I have time tomorrow to get them off and I'll post a few.
By the way, if you're near by, come to the Coopers Arms in Reading at anytime after 7ish (I'd imagine) on Friday night for drinks. Shoot me an email with your number if you haven't already and I'll give you a call tomorrow. I just have to go into Reading and sort a few things out so I'll be about the house for most of the day I should think.
/Hopped!
4:42 PM
>>>
Well I'm here, typing on my mothers computer. I got here on Sunday, and I would've been more frequent with my posts but I've been very busy! I'm still busy actually... So much to do and so little time to do it! So here's a quick(ish) rundown of my week.
SATURDAY
We got to the airport on time and everything, the biggest hassle on the way over was getting the car seat and stroller and Toby all through the security. Toby was fine on the plane, a little crabby for the first half an hour and then he fell asleep. An hour later someone came over the loudspeaker and shouted "IF you would like to sign up for a United credit card...." and Toby woke up crying. Apart from that he was fine. On the next flight they tried to put us in a normal row (instead of the bulkhead) but Toby was kicking the lady in fronts seat and was far too cramped in there anyway, so they realized the error of their ways and put us in the bulkhead. (The crazy thing about this is that had we not paid for the extra seat for Toby we'd have automatically got the bulkhead!)
SUNDAY
So we landed at about 7:45ish in the morning. Linda and mother were both there to meet us. They had to be so we could get all our stuff back! We got back to the house and had bacon buttys and had a nap. I woke about an hour later and started phoning friends, Shuaib said they were having a kickabout (footie) at the park. That gave me a minor dilemma. Sleep like I should do (I had maybe 5 hours sleep in the last 36) or play footie like I haven't in 4+ years... So obviously I played footie! Then Ash, Toby and I went to the pub to meet my dad, we had a couple of drinks, we went and had fish and chips (battered sausage for me!) and I went back to the pub to meet up with my friends for a few jars. I staggered in at 11:30ish I guess, had a nightcap, and went to bed.
MONDAY
We drove all the way to Scotland (Glasgow to be precise. Blanefield to be even more precise.)We were happily greeted by Aunty Marian and Uncle Bill. That was pretty much most of the day.
TUESDAY
Mother, Toby and I drove over to Edinburgh Toby and I got fitted for our kilts, Toby met Dave and Angie for the first time. They loved him (how could you not?) I met Angie for the first time. She's a very nice lass. We went to their place for a cup of tea and I met Glen, Angie's 5 year old son. He's a cutie. Then we came back to Blanefield.
WEDNESDAY
Mother, Linda, Aunty, Unc, Toby, Dave and I went to Loch Lomand for a barbecue. Much fun was had by all. Toby had fun throwing pebbles into the loch. Mother helped evade an attack by a swan. In the evening Mother, Linda, Dave, and I went to the pub. We came back, Mother went to bed, I bought out a bottle of bourbon I bought over and me and my bro and sis continued drinking until the wee hours. I went up to go to to bed and Ashley was up with a sick Toby. I immediately sobered up and told Ash to sleep on the couch and I would look after Toby. Fell asleep holding Toby in my arms. (The best way to fall asleep by the way!)
THURSDAY
Didn't do much during the day, we went to Milngavie (pronoucned Mill-guy) and did a little shopping, that was about it really. In the evening mother and I drove back over to Edinburgh for a wedding rehearsal. It's a very nice church and the vicar was from Buffalo, NY. Afterwards mother and I drove back to Blanefield again.
FRIDAY
We drove back over to Edinburgh I got dropped off at Dave and Angie's house and Ash, Toby and Mother went to my cousin Catherine's house. She has two children so was well prepared to help out with Toby, who was doing a little better by now by the way. The last couple of days he'd just been sleeping. He's been diagnosed with Teething and too much excitement/not enough sleep.
At Angie and Dave's house I just tried to stay out of the way. People were rushing about everywhere! I got booze for the evening and wrote my best man speech (always leave things up until the last minute!) Mark Venning and Simon Allison (Floyd to his mates) turned up, and we all went round to one of Angie's sisters house for drinkypoos.
SATURDAY
Woke up a little worse for wear, but not that bad. We went to the driving range in the morning and hit a few balls, the we went and had a cooked breakfast. After that we realized we were kind of short on time for getting ready for the wedding. We got back to Danielle's (the sisters) house and had an hour to get ready. There was four of us. So after a lot of rushing around we all jumped in Dave's car and race over to the church.
Angie decided to turn up 45 minutes late. That's alright though, it's pretty much expected. Dave did start getting a bit tetchy after half an hour though... Wedding went well, I didn't drop the rings or anything. Angie looked beautiful and Dave looked happy. (Angie looked happy, and Dave looked very handsome as well, but you could probably figure that out by yourselves..)
The reception, and my speech, fortunately there was a lot of faffing about so everyone was growing impatient and hungry, so I cut my speech short, and took out all the uncertain parts. As it was, it lasted about 30 seconds to a minute. Oh well I covered most of the major points. Everyone had lots of fun, Toby was enjoying himself hiding under tables and the other kids were enjoying themselves telling em where he was. I got to catch up with my cousins and some old friends and everyone enjoyed themselves. A nice guy who I'd basically only said hello to had offered to drive us (Ash, Toby and I) back to Catherine's house which is pretty much on the other side of Edinburgh. I am very grateful to him for that.
SUNDAY
Chilled around Catherine's house for a while, played Guitar Hero with Fraser (Catherine's hubby)went over to Dave and Angie's house, had a cup of tea, and mother drove us back to Blanefield.
MONDAY
Drove back to England (Reading to be precise. Woodley to be even more precise.) and wrote this.
Pictures to follow. I know you want to see Toby in a kilt. They're all the camera right now, I'll see if I have time tomorrow to get them off and I'll post a few.
By the way, if you're near by, come to the Coopers Arms in Reading at anytime after 7ish (I'd imagine) on Friday night for drinks. Shoot me an email with your number if you haven't already and I'll give you a call tomorrow. I just have to go into Reading and sort a few things out so I'll be about the house for most of the day I should think.
/Hopped!
4:42 PM
>>>