The wedding was very nice. We whistled down the A12, round the M25 and down the M23 with no delays, found the hotel, and almost immediately ran into our friends, by the simple expedient of looking for them in the bar. At half past two we all presented ourselves in the suite where the festivities were due to take place, and in due course the happy couple appeared and all went smoothly.
The bride looked fragile and very pretty, and was led to the front of the room on the arm of her nine year old son to the strains of Here comes the sun, accompanied by their dog, who had had a bath that very morning in honour of the occasion. The groom beamed. The ceremony was just right, not too long but not too utilitarian, with just two readings, both well chosen. The canapes were good, the prosecco plentiful, the food when the three course meal arrived was nice. The speeches were kind and funny and not too long. The small boy and the small dog behaved beautifully all evening. I met various of the Systems Administrator's old colleagues and cricketing friends that I knew of, or knew slightly but hadn't seen for a long while. The wives and partners were amiable, and a Muswell Hill barrister (another other half) and I made a genuine effort at cheerful conversation when we found ourselves sat next to each other at dinner.
Life by the time you reach your middle years is seldom as straightforward as that. Everything in the last paragraph is true, as far as it goes, but it leaves various important things out. The bride has been seriously ill, and on Friday was using a wheelchair, exhausted by all the preparations. Her boy has behavioural difficulties, so nobody knew until the last minute whether he would be OK walking his mother down the aisle, or fail to cope with the event, and the number of strange people. The nanny, instead of sitting down to a nice meal on the bride and groom's table with the rest of the family, could easily have been spending her afternoon and evening trying to calm a distressed and hysterical child. The best man, close friends with the groom since their university days a couple of decades ago, suffers from a degenerative eye condition and by now has almost completely lost his sight, so his speech included a gallows quip about how even a blind man could see how much the couple were in love. The honeymoon has been quietly deferred until later in the year, to give the bride the chance to regain her strength after the efforts leading up to the wedding, and in fact the groom will be off shortly on a fishing trip with a friend that was arranged before the date for the wedding was set.
This evening was the AGM of the music society. The chairman has decided that she is fed up with our having to do the teas, and decided to delegate this job to supporters of the church where the concerts are held, who will charge a pound a head in aid of church funds. The tea and biscuits are currently provided by the society, and are free at the point of use. The chairman has been flagging this idea to the committee for the past couple of meetings, and although I don't think it was every definitely decided upon by committee, tonight put it to the members of the society (or at least those that turned up to today's recital) before the concert started. Reminding members that the price of season tickets had not gone up this season, and smiling her brightest smile, she asked those who were against the idea to raise their hands. Nobody did. One hopeful soul asked whether there would be cake, but the churchwardens have vetoed cake on the ground of crumbs.
Having spend hunks of this evening drying approximately sixty cups and saucers, and later washing about twenty plates after the cheese and biscuits at the AGM (a couple of years ago we didn't use plates, and there was an Incident over brie being trodden into the carpet) I don't mind if somebody else would be willing to do the refreshments. I don't suppose the members particularly want to have their free tea withdrawn, but none of them will dare complain, not when it's in aid of the church.
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