The Wedding!

When I got there in the morning, Simon told me that they had been up until 2.00am in the morning getting the hall ready and doing some last minute shopping. He was very calm. I asked him where his suit was, and he said that it was at his mother-in-law, Nanny Pam’s, place. Sharon had to come home to collect some stuff, so to get out of the way, we went to the church to supervise the balloon people.

I thought everything was under control until I noticed him pacing the floor clearly agitated!
“What's wrong?”
“I'm nervous!”
“About what?”
“That things will go wrong.”
The person who had promised to pick up the food from Nanny Pam's had let them down so the duty fell to Simon and me.

This was midday; the wedding was at 2.00pm.

At Nanny Pam’s even more drama awaited... The suit was not there! Sharon was stressed and did not appreciate me asking her repeatedly where it was. ‘Tell Simon to look in the wardrobe at home.” And indeed, there it was, together with crumpled white shirt. I started ironing like a mad woman and ordered him into the bathroom to shave and shower! He wanted to go for a walk to de-stress. No time for that we need to be at the church by 1.30.
At 1.00pm, his Ex- Partner phoned to ask for directions to the church. She was supposed to bring the boys, who were the pageboys, and they still had not left their home in West London??? As a result the Wedding was delayed for an hour. We all think this was maliciously deliberate. Stress levels were at an all time high. I kept reminding Si to calm down and BREATHE!

Before Sharon walked in to the church, he started shaking! “This is it then, no turning back now!” It was a beautiful ceremony, (if the sermon a tad too long!)
5 minutes before the reception, was informed that I was the Master of Ceremonies! (MC). Now it was my turn to be stressed!!! MC's are supposed to be funny, keep the audience entertained! I’m not deliberately funny- most of my ‘planned’ jokes often fall as flat as Jamaican hard dough bread. It’s all in the delivery dahling! (I'm thinking of joining Toastmasters to learn the art public speaking.) The cameraman (who was cute but MARRIED) gave me a few tips. Despite this, I still messed up. I told people to start lining up for the buffet before the kitchen was ready! Everything was really disorganised. Apart from Sharon's sisters, there wasn't really anyone to help with serving or clearing up rubbish (plates cutlery etc)! Total contrast to African weddings where you have a host of willing volunteers! The food was good. I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was anxious about my SPEECH
The Speech… Being the last minute person that I am, I’d spent about 10 minutes the previous night working on it, and only practiced on the morning of the wedding while driving down to South London. I managed to put half of it on to prompt cards, the finishing touches to be added while everyone was eating at the reception. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any time to do this because of a) morning drama and b) this whole MC’ng business.
The end result was not bad though. One of the guests, who looked like Desmond, from the TV series, was glaring at me! (Gulp) Turns out he was not the only one giving me the evils. Apparently the ex did not appreciate parts of my speech that heaped lavish praise upon Sharon.
Not many guests knew that Simon and Sharon had met through the Internet, so when I brought up the subject, I could see the bride and groom looking anxious. I didn’t dwell on it but turned it into a joke - thanking them for showing us that the Internet is not just populated with weirdoes and psychos, but has some normal people as well…. (Pause and a glance at Simon) Weeelllll… sort of normal! The audience laughed at the right places – so really pleased!

Afterwards, I asked them to clear the dance floor, i.e. put chairs and tables to the side and was not too impressed when all the men just stood there and did not offer to help. (And Sharon and Simon were thinking of hooking me up with one of the guys there? Hmm I don't think so!) The cameraman helped…but unfortunately for me he is taken! (I was very taken with him!!!)
Then it turned boring. The DJ was lousy, no one was dancing, and I couldn’t leave before Simon and Sharon. Can’t understand why they took so long to leave. There was a posh hotel room waiting for them, which I’m sure Simon had mentioned at least a thousand times!

Despite everything, they appear to have had a good time and that’s what matters! I don’t have any close male friends left, so I guess this is the last time I’ll do the best man thing. A part of me regretfully felt that I should have done this for Stephen, who until a couple of years ago was my best friend … but there you go… you can never predict how life turns out!

Last year I was Chief Bridesmaid; this year, Best Man… Who knows maybe next year I could be BRIDE???

Boogie Night!

This new Mark Ranson video that features Lily Allen doing a cover of Kaiser Chiefs 'Oh My God' has been a firm favourite of the household for the last few days.

It put Yati and me in the mood for DANCING! Haven't been near the London club scene for a while, especially after reports of a recent incident when a car bomb was found outside Tiger Tiger - a club I used to frequent. However as with all things in these terrorist days, you can't let them dictate life to you. If you put your life on hold out of fear you'll never do ANYTHING My brother EC was DJ'ng last night at the Cherry Jam in Bayswater - swanky little club -made even more attractive by the smoking ban! Thank you Tony Blair!! (...or is it Brown now?...need to get used to that) I rallied up the troops - Ngonzi (my sister) and Yati and headed in to town with one mission on our minds.... BOOGIE!!
Got there around 10.00pm and headed straight for the dancefloor. Ngonzi picked up a girl, Lisa, who'd been sitting dejectedly at the bar. She'd been stood up by her friends, didn't know anyone and was leaving. We generously allowed her to join our group, and then started the serious business of GETTING DOWN ON THE DANCEFLOOR! House music is very interesting. Sure it's 'thud thud' music, but it reminds me of Zairean 'Lingala' music sans whining guitar and singing is to a minimum- in fact, we was busting some hot lingala moves Man!
Another thing I like about House music is that within the song, you get 'rest' periods, where the bass cuts out, and then this kind of electric sound starts building up, everyone waits for that wave to break, anticipating the moment of crescendo.... me yelling "It's coming, it's coming!" The music shrieks...dum dum dum dum dum duuuuuuumm... a short pause...
THEN!!!
The bass riff comes CRASHING BACK and everyone shifts their asses into full gear, dancing in earnest - like their very lives depend on it. It's like TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Just love it!
One guy came up to our group, 'Hi I'm Dominic!" and kind of latched onto us the whole night. He was clearly there for dancing and was very good - had some merengue moves which went down well with me. At one point, another guy came up to our table and lifted a glass of wine- such was his confidence that it threw me. I turned to Yati and asked "Is that his wine?" Moments later, Lisa comes back and says, "Where's my wine? I had a full glass of red wine here" I pointed at the culprit and she goes charging after him, "That's my wine!!!" His embarrassed girlfriend bought her another glass, and then they latched onto us as well. While I was resting he leans drunkenly over the table and says "Give us a kiss then"... huh?... "Why should I give you a kiss?... "No reason, just give me a kiss!" so I pecked him on the cheek, he gives me a thumbs up and goes off. Then he comes around again and says... "You are very special!" What can you say to that but "Thank you?" I looked over at his girlfriend who just shrugged. She's clearly used to this behaviour. Some black guys wandered in, but experience has taught us to come slow with our Brothers in such night clubs. You see, black people aren't really into House music, and the ones that are, are usually Coconuts or have 'Jungle Fever' (i.e. have a clingy white girlfriend or are just plain not interested in us Sisters) But they are good dancers so I seize every opportunity to get down with them... and then depart gracefully when Miss Cling Film observes that her man is having way too much fun, starts feeling insecure and moves in to stake her claim!
Alas the club session ended and our new found friend Dominic asked whether we were moving on to the next club. Gave us a bit of background.. he's from Sydney, had just cycled across Canada, (let's have a look at your tush then Aoooooowwww!) would be in Berlin next week and then go back home. "So you are cycling back to Sydney"
"No I'm flying back"
"That's the wrong answer mate, you need to impress me"
"Oh, how should I impress you?"
"Say you are cycling back to Sydney"
"Oh yeah.. I'm cycling back to Sydney"
"Wow!!!!"

Silly really!

It was a good evening! My legs are in agony. I don't do this often enough.. perhaps it is best that way... keep it in small doses so that it doesn't lose it's magic

And also give my feet a break!

BOOGIE ON!!

The Stag!

Way back in April I contacted all Simon's friends and proposed that for his stag we should have a weekend away of adventure activities. It turns out this was too expensive for them, because most of them were married and had family responsibilities to consider

So I proposed a pub crawl instead, which would be more in line with 'tight-fisted' English culture! Alas - they were not available for this either. What kind of friends does Si have?

I give up!

The ones who agreed to come were all people that he has met through the Internet or work colleagues- so no one from his past!

Simone has been corresponding with him for 8 years and this was her first time to meet him. She brought along her cousin Sebastian as a chaperone, just in case we turned out to be a bunch of weirdos.

The setting for the stag? Angel, Islington. For an early supper we went to Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, Ah-So, with entertaining Philipino chef Charly! Next door was the Hope and Anchor pub which was the perfect place to begin a pub crawl!

To make the evening a bit more interesting I suggested that we should all dress up as characters from the Adventure/Fantasy genre that Simon likes so much. For Si I procured a 'Gandalf' wig and beard! He looked hilarious. I wore a Pirates costume, Yati came as an angel and not sure what Simone and Sebastian were supposed to be. Lukasz came as 'Himself' - probably the street urchin or rogue?
It was a fun evening. We pub crawled all the way to Angel Station. Simon got progressively WASTED! At one point he was feeling 'hot??' and needed to walk in the fresh air to cool down. Never mind that we were walking in the street at that time. Then he started going on about me being his best friend which was quite embarrassing really. You see Simon likes to hug and I am not really a 'touchy feely' person! At around midnight he decided to launch into a 'serious' conversation about upcoming wedding, stuttering, stopping mid sentence... (as drunk people do)
Yati, just fell asleep on the couch and it was left to me to keep insisting that he hurry up. As I live outside London, it was absolutely vital to get to Kings Cross on time so that we could catch the last train back home. And we would have caught the train, if Si had not insisted on going back to his home (even though I'd offered him my couch for the night!) We had to take him to Trafalgar Square, get him on to his night bus and then catch our night bus which took us about 2 hours to get home!

Ahh the things we do for friends!

Well all that's left now is the (GASP) speech and I still need to get the suit! The good news is that thanks to Slimming World, I have lost a staggering half a stone in just one month, and I am no longer in between sizes! I've also taken up the gym and swimming regularly which has helped to tone me up a bit more! It feels so good to walk into a shop and find clothes that fit!

Can't believe the wedding is in a couple of weeks time!

Blog on the backburner

In my school days, I acquired a bit of a reputation of being a good writer. I always scored top marks in English Composition, wrote brilliant essays, entered writing competitions, wrote short stories to entertain friends, kept a daily journal and when I moved to England, wrote the longest letters to friends back home

I LIKED writing! I even considered a career in Journalism

However, lately, I’ve run out of material to blog about

I’ve changed as well. I find no pleasure in blogging and my journal, which I was once slavishly devoted to, lies forlornly on my bedside cabinet- gathering dust. I’ve been cutting out newspaper articles that I felt… 'Oh that’s worth blogging about’
Stories like 16-year-old Lydia Playfoot, from West Sussex who went to the High Court to accuse her school of discriminating against Christians by banning the wearing of "purity rings".
I thought I’d write something about best selling ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins (which is quite a good read if you are the type that is not easily offended) and the Christian response, ‘The Dawkins Delusion’ by Alister McGrath which is admittedly a bit more of a slog to get through– unlike the former it is definitely not popular literature. However, when I sit down at my computer, the words just don’t flow!

I find it difficult to express any opinions, even in normal conversation. These days when people are airing their views (more like parroting what they’ve heard from other people) I just listen, or play devil’s advocate by challenging their views.

Or have I just lost motivation to write?

Feedback is the fuel that drives a writer on! We need to know what impact our words are having; that we are COMMUNICATING!!! Through our writing we create and develop a ‘relationship’ with our readers. A relationship, cannot survive if it is all one-sided. If you had a conversation with someone who did not react at all, you’d quickly run out of steam.

People do not read my blog anymore. My younger sister, who used to be my most avid reader, asked me the other day what my blog address was.
Need I say more?

Sometimes things like this make me feel inadequate as a writer. I start comparing my writing to writers of ‘successful’ blogs – you know the ones that have 1000+ hits per day?

But even though I am not trained, I know that I’m still a good writer! Why else would my email-pal with whom I correspond with daily still keep writing! This has become one of the few outlets that have satisfied my writer’s ‘need’. I concentrate most of my efforts to these emails which are a pleasure to write. It keeps me grounded and I think I’d go mad if Simon wasn’t there- always responding, commenting, challenging

Why then should I write for an inattentive audience?