Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The wedding


Well, I'm now married. Last Friday was one of the most magical days of my life. Theresa and I had planned the day quite carefully, and it went even better then either of us could have hoped I think. Looking back on it there's nothing that I wish we'd done, nothing that I wish we hadn't. Our guests were great, the venue was perfect and it all ended before people got too tired. While this may sounds crass, it was the happiest day of my life and I would like everyone to know it!! And looking into the eyes of my (now) wife and telling her I will love her, hold her and keep her for the rest of my life was one of the most powerful moments ever for me.

There were 33 of us at the wedding, a mixture of friends and family on both sides. We go married in Galstonbury Town Hall, in the South-West of England, and then moved to a restaurant in the countryside that Theresa and I both love very much. We stayed in the restaurant all afternoon and had the place pretty much to ourselves. The afternoon was spent eating and drinking, and chilling quite a bit too. Which is how Theresa and I wanted the day and how we pretty much are as well.



As if it was planned the sun broke through the clouds just as we finished the ceremony. And then came out once again when we took a break from the lunch in the afternoon.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came, and I'm sorry that we couldn't have all of our friends with us on the day. Everyone who was there and everyone who was thinking of us made it so special.

A few points about the day:

- Theresa looked gorgeous in her dress, and pulled off being 7 months pregnant as well!
- We did individual menu on each place with each persons name on it. It really helped the restaurant and the guests who didn't know each other.
- We mixed all of the guests up so they weren't sitting in couples. Many new friends were made and we noticed people come out of their shells as a result.
- No single cake, but individual cup cakes with each guests initials on them. We then went round at the end of the afternoon giving each person their cake in a samll box. It gave us a chance to formally say 'bye'.
- Proper restaurant rather than brought in catering. So much better quality and quantity!

Thank you again to everyone. Now just got to get used to wearing a ring on my finger!!

Monday, March 20, 2006

Long overdue appearance...


First of all HUGE apologies for my really long absence. I hope you are all very well. I am working through your blogs to see what you’ve all been up to. Rest assured that you have been in my thoughts, despite my absence.

So what’s new? The last few weeks have been among the busiest I can remember. Almost everything that can be changed has been changed since late January!! So where to start?



Theresa is doing very well. She is now getting bigger by the day, but everything is still going well. She’s had a couple of minor illnesses, but for the most part is living a reasonably normal life. She is more tired and is more out of breath (normal by all accounts), but is still only eating for one and not two. I am making up the deficit I reckon!! All of the midwife checks have gone well, and everything seems very well with Megan. She is proving to be a very active child and seems to be continually kicking and moving around. Not sure what this will mean for when she’s born, but we’ll see. It’s quite reassuring to feel her moving around though, especially during the times when Theresa has been unwell.

Next up is that I’ve left Publishing and moved to an advertising company. I don’t want to say much about the leaving period except that it proved very tiring and got quite messy towards the end. Which was a great shame because most of my memories from there are good. But now I’m into the next phase of my career and everything seems to be going really well. There is a lot to do, but it’s proving to be an interesting challenge so far. The people are cool, the company seems spot on and watch this space. I was talking to my colleagues today about blogging and threatened to put some of them online….... but maybe I'll save that for a special post.

The wedding plans are about to come to fruition. IT’S THIS FRIDAY!!!!! Everything has been sorted and it’s just a case of turning up really now. I’m really excited about it and I think it’s going to rank as one of the best days of my life. It will be quite a small family and very close friends affair, but I prefer that. With Theresa being 7 months pregnant now we probably can’t do too long a day anyway. I’ll put a post on after our honeymoon next week. We’re off to West Wales to a secluded caban (spelt that way) near a remote bay. Hopefully we’ll get to see Whales and Dolphins, and will be able to just chill. It’s only for four days, but will be such a great tonic.

The house and garden are coming along well. All of the preparations for Megan are pretty much done and we’ve been concentrating on the garden. At the moments we’re very much in the planting phase, but even I can start to see how different and colourful it will be. With Spring hopefully just around the corner I really can’t wait. The decking is already proving it’s worth and we’ve enjoyed a couple of breakfasts on it already. We’ve got the furniture, heater, etc.. and a BBQ arrived the other day (thanks Alf and Marny) which just needs assembling and then we’re go!! I’m already dreaming of the lazy Summer evenings spent chilling on the decking while watching the sun go down. With the sweet smell of flowers and shrubs wafting up from the garden, and mingling with home grown vegetables and cooking on our BBQ. The plan is for the decking to become our dining room for 6 months of the year. I just need the air temperature to rise above 2 Celcius now!!!



It was a sad day last week when I sold Lolita the Smart car. I sold her on Ebay in one day (!) to a guy in Malta. He is exporting her as we speak and I’m sure she will have a great life out there in the sun. I was quite sad saying goodbye because she has lived many many adventures with me. And she will always have a special place in my heart. But things have to move on and we’ve bought a Skoda estate to allow for Megan and her stuff. And so far the new Stancombe family vehicle has proven a delight. Very comfortable, sporty and remarkably economical as well.

Again I’m sorry for the absence and I will try harder. Think of us on Friday (24/03) at 11.30 GMT as Theresa and I get married. And I’ll try and put more updates on very soon.