The wedding

NOW YOU HAVE FOUND THIS POST GO AND PUT THE KETTLE ON AS IT TAKES AGES TO LOAD THANKS TO ALL THE VIDEO CLIPS AND PHOTS.

SERIOUSLY, GO AND HAVE A CUPPA OR A PINT.

Last Saturday my little sister got married. A lovely affair in a quaint country church with the reception held in the church hall. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

As you may or may not know the weather here in Blightyland has been a tad damp, to say the least. Don't just take my word for it, check out the link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3570940.stm

It was like that in several counties across the land which made travel from north to south, east to west and visa versa, damn near impossible. I feel sorry for the poor suckers that got stuck on the M5, it basically turned into a car park after junction 5.

Here's what happened on the Friday, the day we all travelled to Dorset for the wedding.

Big brother and his family set off at about 10am by car, in the car was my suit and Mum and Dad's stuff. So, driving like a demon of he went. They got as far as Bristol (still on the M5) when the drivers side rear tyre got a flat. Being a sensible chap Big brother called the AA, yes it is only a flat tyre but he would have been trying to change the wheel right next to traffic in pouring rain and poor visibility, also to get to the spare he would have to have emptied the boot and thus getting everything wet, let the AA do it. 8 and a bit hours later the tow truck arrives. I'd sack the AA about now.
At one point a police patrol car came along and the copper in it said that they would have to vacate the car and go up the embankment for safety reasons! However he did give them some of those tin foil blankets, you know the ones that are popular after marathons, he also gave them some yellow plastic macs with attached hoods, a bit like a poncho. There are some pics of them on my brothers phone, they all look sad , pathetic and above all soaked.

Next we come to M+D. They set off from Lime Street Station at 10:19 and all looked well, not for long.
They got to Tamworth and all was well, they had to change trains there and get a connection to Newport. But due to floods of one sort or another they only made it as far as Cheltenham Spa, well not quite into the station, no, another train had to come out to their train and come along side, once it was along side their train the doors on both trains where opened and little drawbridges (I shit you not) where lowered to connect both trains, then everybody (and their luggage) had to walk the plank from one train to the other, crazy.
Once aboard the new train they set off to Cheltenham Spa where they had to board a coach, it looked like the rest of the journey was going to be by road. Did I mention it is raining lots, all over the place? Well some roads to the south (most of them) where under water or being washed away. They did manage to get to Bristol Temple meads train station and after another long wait and misinformation by the bucket load got a train to Salisbury where they could get a connecting train to Yeovil, their final destination. We'll leave M+D at this point and see how K,M and the kids are doing.

K,M and the kids, set off by car just after lunch and all was well. Yes all was well for about an hour. Driving in torential rain and listening to increasingly dire travel and weather news, things looked bleak for their prospect of getting to Yeovil in a timely manner. Then they started to into increasingly heavier traffic, this is the traffic that is backing up and backing up due to the cars in front not being able to go forward because of the lack of river free roads. Time dragged on and the traffic moved slower and the news and weather got worse. Then it was reported that junction 5 of the M5 ( the motorway they were on) was where the traffic had backed up to, so M took the decision to leave the motorway at J4 and head north and attempt to get on an A road and maybe get around the blockage. The flooding really was quite wide spread and his attempt to find an alternate route proved unsuccessful, there was nothing for it but to admit defeat and return home and try again in the morning, time now 20:15.

Now we come to Myself and nephew. Our travel plans had us going by train at 15:30 from Liverpool to London Euston, then on the underground to Waterloo and then on to the main line train to Exeter St David's, getting off at Yeovil at about 22:30, just in time for a swift birthday pint in the hotel bar with the rest of the family. And we would have gotten away with too if it hadn't been for a pesky broken train blocking the line to London.
So now to go south we had to go north to Manchester and get a connecting train to London, this went off without a hitch except for the fact that you now have two lots of passengers trying to get on the Manchester to London train, so myself and nephew ended up standing the 4 and a bit hours it took to get to London, it should have only taken 3 and a bit hours but for some reason it was raining an awful lot and this was causing some really big puddles to form and the train had to slow to a crawl to go thru' these. Looking out of the train window and seeing the track obscured by a foot of water is a new experience for me, one I don't want to repeat. When you think that most of the track in this country is on a raised embankment between 4 to 16 foot high, to keep the track level and smooth, having a foot of water on the track gives you an idea of how bad the flooding was in certain parts of the country.
Anyway we're about 50 mins behind schedule so that has put paid to the seat reservations for the rest of the journey, damn.
We get on and through the tube with no problems but have to wait about 50 mins for the Exeter train, so we have a drink at one of the bars in Waterloo station, I had orange and lemonade and nephew had a pint of coke.
Then it was onto the train and we're off again, this time seated. We stop for a while at Salisbury so that our 9 carriage train can have the middle 3 carriages removed and then the ends put back together to form a 6 carriage train, why, I don't know. Once this baffling manouver was completed we where on our way again.
We arrived at Yeovil junction at 00:30 on the Saturday morning, a little tired and miffed as we had missed last orders, but at least we made it. We had had various texts and calls from the others giving us updates on their progress or lack of it, when they had a signal, so we knew that K,M and the girls wouldn't make it till later that day.
We had just ordered a taxi when my phone rings, I answer it and a voice says, "look behind you." I do and there is M+D on the platform walking to the exit, they had managed to get to Salisbury when our train was doing the change around. M+D had just got off their train a minute before ours was due to leave so they dashed across and got on the Exeter train just before the doors closed, they had gotten on in first class and stayed there, I can't say I blame them after the journey they had had.

Meanwhile big brother and family had two tows, one to get them off the motorway and another to get them to the hotel about half an hour before we got there. At about the same time K+M and the girls are in a tesco car park getting something to eat and looking at a load of weirdos dressed as witches and wizards as they get their copy of the latest Harry Potter book.

Gods what a day! It's just as well that the wedding isn't till 5pm.

K+M still have to get here and quick or nephew is going to the wedding in a t shirt, tracksuit bottoms and trainers.

It's 16:00 and we're boarding a coach to take us from the hotel to the church, it's a 20 min journey at warp 5. Still no sign of K+M and the girls and they're out of range for the phone.




Before I go any further I must apologise for the poor quality of the pics and video, it was all taken using my PSP.

So here we are, well most of us, at the church so I go for an explore.











I'm sorry about that last clip, it looks like something out of the "Blair witch project"

Here's the font



And here is the priest who is going to marry S+A




So we're just waiting for K+M and the girls, at this point we still have no news and nephew still has no suit, regard...



And now for what we've all been waiting for, lil sis is on her way





But wait! K isn't here yet and she was supposed to be the brides maid.
E to the rescue!


Now we can continue



If the last couple of clips a bit like stop motion animation let me know, then I'll do them again on you tube instead of photo bucket.

Right where was I...
The service is now complete and the register has been signed it only remains to go outside and have the pictures took, but oops it's still raining, so this walk past is just for show and once at the door to the church it's about turn and have the phots taken inside the church.


But wait who is this, just arrived by taxi?

Yes that's right, it's K+M and the girls.

So photos all done. And now it's off to the village hall for the speeches and the food. The village is a collection of about 8 houses and everyone chipped in to make this wedding celebration the great success it was, it looks like S+A have moved to a wonderful caring community, it's just a bit isolated for my taste, not enough concrete under my feet.
It's still raining so we get the coach there...


S+A are driven to the hall in a huge American car, one of a collection owned by one of the locals. There are some pics of it towards the bottom of the page.
But here are the happy couple entering the hall.



Nice cake, shame about the video, oops!


And finally a last look at the band and some of the peeps that I shared a table with.
Three of the women from the band played some music while everyone milled about as the photos where being taken at the church, they where brilliant, it was just a pity that the organist was wearing boxing gloves that day.




And now for the stills

TTFN