Monday, August 28, 2006

Stiperstones without a skirt!!!!


This weekend was quite a mixture, we had the city, the seaside, a village and what's next - hill walking. I've been to the Stipperstones once before with Rae but that time I was sporting a wrapover skirt and bobble hat. Vica - notice that the skirt appears often when I'm hiking :). Although I only had half of my lung capacity, it was a great walk and definitly cleared the cobwebs. There were great views at the top and the pub lunch afterwards went down very well.
We had a fantastic weekend with Rae, Jue and Archie and look forward to the next.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Walking off into the sunset :P


Now I thought that I couldn't resist temptation but just as Al, Jue, Archie and I were about to leave Rae home to revise....'are you sure you don't want to come'...and off she was putting her shoes on :) We visited a really quaint Welsh village and had cake ina shop that had 25 litres of palestinian olive oil on sale. Who finds 25 litres of palestinian olive oil? Not something you would bring back on your hols is it :)

We visited the seaside at Borth and had a paddle in the sea which actually wasn't too too cold. All the while, Archie was content in the backpack.

At night Rae told us over dinner about her Jif confusion. A little Rae got slightly confused when being sent to the Spar for Jif and came home with Jif bathroom cleaner. A simple mistake you would think. However, not on pancake day. I'm not sure whether Rae thought that her mum had a jif cleaner emergency but still :) You know that feeling when you can't breathe cos you are laughing too much :)

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Is that the Pakistani flag?


Pride number two for the year, Manchester. Al kindly shared her cold with me so coughing and spluttering, we headed north to Rae, Jue and Archies. Manchester Pride was quite spectacular. We watched the parade with its very colourful and in some case scary floats (S&M dykes were quite a sight). One very confused eldery gentleman did Ask Rae what the flag was, 'is it the pakistani flag'? He was referring to the Rainbow flag :)

Archie is without a doubt one of the cutest babies I've seen and boy did he get a lot of attention. Sporting a rainbow bandana, flag and balloon, he was pointed at and I lost count the number of ahh's.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

One civil partnership, two broken chairs

Today Rae and Julie tied the knot :) I'm so happy for them. We drove up to Powys on the Friday and visited Ironbridge en route. Rae and Jue were married in Welshpool registry office and I was the witness. Emotion got the better of me and spelling and signing my name was a struggle. How I got through uni, nobody knows...Back to the house, we walked around the grounds while photo's were being taken and had hog roast for lunch. Oh what a good vegetarian I am. I loved the whole day, it was so chilled and relaxed. So Rae and Jue. Over coffee, I recieved a gift for being a witness. What else by the Bristol version of Monopoly and a book commenting on what should happen if you hit a jellyfish with a spade. I shall let you know.

There was a theme of the day...broken chairs. Phil and Marina sat on the swing chair and down they fell. Half of Phil's red wine went over his shirt and trousers. Luckily I looked over and out came the camera (I forgot about helping them first). I tried to hide and take piccies becuase I didn't want to draw attention to them but then Rae found out. We stood and watched them, had a giggle and out came 'its not all bad, I got pictures' :)

We even turned into a nursery at one point when I was holding Archie while Al held Aimee (Rae's Neice). I'm ever so slightly (ok hugely) broody at the mo.

I do believe that Rae and Jue had the best idea in the whole world for entertainment...A BOUNCY CASTLE. As soon as we finished lunch, we were bouncing away. One tip, remember what your mother says and make sure your food settles first. Also, don't bounce with Rae and Phil. I spent more time on my bum than bouncing. You have to imagine this...white skirt, corsage, make up and hair done and bouncing on a castle!!! However, I didn't have a change of clothes! Needless to say, we had an audience. I even commented that I had to get off the castle elegantly but Rae and Phil had other ideas. Instead I exited with my legs in the air :) Bouncy castles are more knackering than I remember. The picture you should now have in your head is a very bedraggled, hair all over the place, corsage hanging off and skirt tucked in pants. Oh, I like to make an impression at a wedding (Amanda and Phil could testify).

I really don't learn quickly becuase I was back on the bouncy castle with Mollie (Rae's other neice) only 15 minutes later.

I told you that broken chairs were the theme of the day. Broken chair number two resulted in Rae's father (Ray) doing vertical freefall through no fault of his own. He neither jumped nor moved. Mid conversation, he ended up on the floor with legs in the air and a chair that was completely in peices. Julies father quickly refused to take out the splinters :)

The drink was well and truly flowing at this point and phil started his pendulum dance. Well, so did the rest of the group too. It consists of hands raised and waving from side to side by the waist while in a circle around a handbag. The handbag didn't stay on the floor for long, soon Phil was modelling it to everybody (including the owner). Piggy time was next when Rae jumped on phil's back and progressed to chase Julie around the stereo...why? I don't know :)

Pictures can be found on http://beervana.co.uk/rae_jue_photoweb/index.htm

Its so nice to see such great friends tie the knot. I will never forget such a wonderful day. Thanks Rae and Jue for letting us share your special day. xxx