Cultural observations

Well, it has been a fun past few days. On Friday I accompanied our friend Chris to a wedding for one of his long-time mates (friends). The ceremony was at St. Stephen's church in St. Abans and the reception in a the nearby town. But of course the day started in the pub across the street from the church, where we gathered with the groom and other friends for a quick pint or two (to settle the nerves...). The wedding followed the traditional Anglican order of service and yes, we did sing Jerusalem as the closing hymn. Then it was on to the reception - held at a place called the Hunton (I think), which is a hotel with beautiful gardens. We had a drinks reception out in the gardens - and the sun was out! - and then moved into a marque (tent) for the sit-down dinner. After dinner, we had the speeches. Father of the bride, groom and then the two best men did a tag-team speech. All the speeches were funny and good, but sadly I did not win the pot for the length of the best men's speech. I bet on two time slots, 19 min 30 sec and 22 min 10 sec, but the official time recorded was 20 min 40 sec. Too bad, as the pot was £84! After the speeches, the cake was cut, and then dancing commenced. Ian joined us when he got home from work, about 9 pm, and we stayed until midnight. Then the party moved inside to the hotel bar. We finally called a cab to head home at 2 am. The wedding was fun, but felt long to me as I didn't know anyone but Chris (and later Ian).

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing in St. Albans. Saturday Ian and I tried out a new place called the New York Bagel Bar in St. Albans for breakfast. The bagels weren't bad - think Dunkin Doughnuts quality - the atmosphere was good. Several pictures hung on the walls - Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan featuring the Empire State building, and a skyline. Upon closer examination of the skyline, it proved to be of Seattle - not NY - as it had the Space Needle in it! When I mentioned this to the owner, he was shocked. He had bought the print on Ebay and was assured it was of NY. He asked us not to let the word out in St. Albans, as most customers probably wouldn't know the difference. ;)

Sunday we moved our stuff out of Colin and Jo's house and into Chris's place. We then headed to the cinema (movies) to watch Hellboy 2, which just came out here. Monday was a bank holiday here in England, but unfortunately Ian had to work (the European markets were open). He does get to take another day off as compensation though. I headed into London to meet up with another friend, Bill. He and I visited the Tate Modern (a cool museum) and waked along the embankment towards Big Ben and Westminster. We met up with Ian about 4 and got a beer in a pub. Then we headed to SoHo and had an Italian dinner there. We headed back to St. Albans on the 8:10 train. A fun day.

Today I caught a coach (bus) from Victoria Station in London to Bristol, where my inlaws, Keith and Jill, met me. I'll be staying with them in Weston-super-Mare until Friday, when Ian and I move into the Bristol apartment. I got a call from the relocation company today, so hopefully all is well with our container. Will let you know how that goes!

Cheers!