Friday, July 21, 2006

It's our anniversary

34 years ago, Mrs C and I got married in Nottingham.
I remember that it was a cool and cloudy summer’s
day. I stayed overnight at Mrs C’s family home and
met up with the rest of my family at the Register
Office.

My wife’s parents and my own had been fairly close
friends over the years, and it sounds funny to say
this but J., my mother-in-law, bathed me when I was
a baby (while my mum was laid up in bed with mumps
for a week or so). I was born in Manchester, by
the way.

The Basford Register Office was roomy inside, but
had a somewhat gloomy décor, like interior of a
funeral parlour. The reception was held at Mrs C’s
family home, which had a huge garden. My wife and
her mum had slaved to prepare all the food (for
about 40 people). Anyway, we all enjoyed the event,
and later Mrs C and I caught the train from
Nottingham Station to honeymoon on the Isle of
Arran in Scotland (with an overnight stop in
Manchester on the way up). The weather in Arran
was idyllic for walking around it, and we had a
great time.

The following week, I started my first medical
house job at the Leeds General Infirmary, and didn’t
see much of my wife for the next 6 months, owing to
the gruelling workload and having to catch up on
sleep on my evenings off. A dreadful 6 months for
both of us. It was one of the worst times in my life.

Well today we had a fairly leisurely day – a pub-
meal out at lunchtime at The Golden Fleece - a
selection of tapas plus a small amount of alcohol
– all very nice. We had planned to walk further
into Nottingham centre and try out a vegetarian
restaurant in Hockley, but as the weather was hot
and humid, we settled for the Golden Fleece instead.

We spent the rest of the day food shopping for our
weekend visitors/activities, collected three members
of the family from the station, and did the usual
meal preparation, eating, boozing and chatting.
Daughter S is a classical guitarist and played a
medley of guitar pieces for us, including the
gorgeous Tárrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

We shared a bottle of Hardy’s sparkling wine, made
with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. It's half-
price in Tesco at the moment, and has an interesting
flavour for a Cava-style wine. We’ll be getting in
some more.

7 Comments:

Blogger andrea said...

Congratulations. I hope when we reach 34 years of wedded bliss (we're 15 years behind you -- almost exactly) I don't find myself repeating the same story over and over again unless there's a space of a day or two. (Read your blog -- technical oops.) :) Just yankin' your chain, dear.

1:50 am  
Blogger Identikit said...

Congratulations. Yes, I wasn't sure if the repetition was intentional or not. It actually works quite well.

34 years, that's amazing. I have some way to go to get to that. Well, I suppose I'd have to get married first before I could start counting!!

Have a good weekend!

Kitty
x

8:52 am  
Blogger steve said...

lol it was so good you did it twice.

12:28 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought I was reading the same paragraph twice - neigh, thrice.

As you've no doubt got broadband you can do quick snip as the rabbi said to the actress!

3:54 pm  
Blogger justin said...

Hi everyone -- thanks for your kind and cheerful comments. I say, thanks for your kind and cheerful comments ....and sorry about my cock-up.

6:05 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Said the bishop to the actress.

12:47 pm  
Blogger justin said...

That's very funny, Max.

5:06 am  

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