recovering nicely?

The wedding was an expansive affair held at the Georgian Minstrels Ballroom of the Crown Hotel. Several factors kept the event from going too overboard. One was the skewed stairs that threatened to pitch revelers over the side with the slightest misstep. The other was the cash bar. This is evidently the tradition in England and a smart one too, because the party would get too out of hand otherwise. Still, there was much drunken debauchery and good natured mayhem. The event, which really was called a blessing for they were already legally married in the United States, lasted quite a long time. There were three parts and was typical of a British wedding, at least in Nantwich, Chesire....

The actual ceremony was traditional with a procession of bridesmaids and bride and started at 3:00. Only immediate family are usually invited to attend this part, but anyone who traveled to England from America was also allowed. The bride was aglow and all her friends from high school served as bridesmaids and her younger sister as the maid of honor. The blessing was given by a fellow who later claimed he had never done this before. He usually works these events as a "Toastmaster", adorned in a red coat and wielding a hammer to bang the table to get everyone's attention, but at this point he was serving as a justice of the peace. He wore a natty suit and was very nervous and kept getting the names wrong, but later we told him, to his great delight, he was much better than his counterpart back in the U.S.

The kids exchanged vows and afterwards we all retired to another room for drinks and then outside near the River Weaver for photographs.

The second part of the wedding began soon after with a meal. The Toastmaster was in his glory and kept making pronoucements and banging his little brass hammer. The pub upstairs in the room was open and if you wanted anything more than the glass of wine they served or the champagne for the toasts, it was a purchase. The Toastmaster banged his gavel, several people made speeches and we ate roast beef with Yorkshire pudding before the wedding party ended and the third part of this raucous event began.

They cleared most of the tables to form a dance floor and a rock band set up their equipment and from around 8:00 p.m. to sometime past 1:00 a.m. the place was filled with everyone at the wedding and any friends who wanted to come and a few stragglers. The band was comprised of their friends and they alternated sets with a DJ and as the night wore on more and more people came, some not even dressed for the wedding. One fellow who twitched appropriately on the dance floor had a blue mohawk streak through his otherwise bone white hair. It got more and more frenetic and the dancing a bit more spirited and shots of alcohol were slung back in toasts to the bride and groom and there was more drinking and dancing. At one point the hotel put out an assortment of finger foods in the other room and the revelers gorged themselves on fish sticks and quiches and pork pies and egg salad sandwiches before running out to the dance floor to dance off their alcohol. Long after the band packed up their gear the DJ had everyone hopping about. It was a lot of fun! But, some people got seriously drunk. Some of Janet's family were leaving in the morning....I don't know how they did it. For the rest of us Sunday came very late.



Along the canal in Nantwich, Chesire



Later, much later, Janet and I went for a walk along the canal nearby. There are thousands of miles of canals in England and many people use these long slender boats as a holiday getaway or in some cases a home. Many are enchanting with decorative touches of flowers either painted on the side or in pots on the top. We snuck looks in when we could and saw people eating or some relaxing on bank in lawn chairs. Boats can be rented for 99 lbs.. (that's sterling) for the day. We saw one boat coming back with kids drapped across the bow and on the roof and all gripping bottles of beer. It looked like a lot of fun too in the brilliant sunlight and the placid waters of the canal leading you through green fields.

A quieter life...

We only had one beer today, Sunday. Janet and I walked into town after dinner to the Bowling Green. Yet another pub! It is right on Monk's Lane. We had Old Speckled Hen Bitter and then happily strolled the dark streets arm in arm happy with the circumstances of our lives and the lives of our children.