Mr & Mrs

Off to the wedding, but not before a late start, breakfast (all of the +3s appear to be growing again as they polished off cereal, toast and whatever else the could find), a trip into town in a howling gale bracing breeze laced with sleet, a visit to the toy shop and then lunch.

And then +1/2 and I escaped for the afternoon and evening. 

Up to Clydebank for the wedding and reception (more hideous weather but as we were all indoors not a problem) in the beautiful Clydebank Town Hall. The wedding itself was lovely, the food delicious and the evening was rounded off with plenty of dancing.

The groom (Chris) and I were friends at school and in fact really became friends through his little brother, Jem. Jem reminded me that he and I had met because he started pestering me on the way home from school one day about the guitar I was carrying - he was a budding guitarist too - and from there on we started jamming, I seem to remember a shared admiration of the Allman Brothers. At some point Chris decided he would join us by taking up the drums. Cue much nagging of his mother to find a drum kit (which she did; a somewhat aged and motley set of drums but functional) and the three of us spent an inordinate amount of time honing our musical skills and chops. Val: you had the patience of a saint. Or possibly excellent earplugs.

Maybe a few years after we started, Jem moved away to live with his father and that was more or less the last time I'd seen him until now. More than 25 years and he really hasn't changed at all. Except now he's married and has a beautiful son.

Chris and I continued to jam away until one day another school friend, Sean, wandered around to Chris' house with his brother. Somehow they'd heard we could play (probably literally heard; we used to make a lot of noise) and would we be interested in forming a band? One rendition of Hot For Teacher later (it was the 80s) (no, we didn't wear spandex) and we were in.

The rest, as they say, is history: Sean was Chris' best man, his speech was great and as we happened to be all in the same place and there was a live band we took advantage of their instruments and knocked out a couple of numbers at the end of the night. 

+1/2 had a great time. Sometimes you need a few hours off to go dancing and to talk mince with old friends. 

Extras: +1/3 being shown an article on Aston Martins by +1/2's dad, and +2/3 being used as a willing footstool.