Enough to feed the five thousand...

Michael and I need to learn to communicate better when it comes to shopping. I went shopping earlier in the week and filled the cupboards and fridge. I asked Michael to pick up peppers on his way home as I was making fajitas. He eventually turned up with six large bags of shopping and we spent the next hour trying to find space for all the extra food. Rather than getting stressed over finding space, I should be grateful that I’m lucky enough to have enough to eat every day. There are so many people in the world who don’t.

Reunited with my car again

Yay, the car is back from the garage having passed the MOT, been serviced, valeted (it hasn’t been this clean since I bought it four years ago!) and had the steering column replaced which makes it feel a million times better to drive. It also feels incredibly tiny after having gotten used to driving Michael’s Jeep over the last few days, but that’s a much better thing for city driving. My little car gets worked hard with all the driving for my job, but hopefully those few days at the garage have given it a new lease of life again.

Feeling like I'm driving a tank!

Back at work today, and my car is still in bits in the garage although status reports indicate that it should be mended and ready tomorrow. I’ve had to borrow Michael’s car again today to drive to work – fortunately I’m getting more comfortable with driving it, but it was a little nerve-racking having to drive it down fairly narrow streets with parked cars either side. It’s fun feeling like I’m driving a tank, but not so much fun trying to park it in a fairly tight space. I’m glad to be back home and able to return the car unscathed.

A walk in the woods

I decided to make the most of the last few hours of being off-call and took myself off into the countryside for a nice long walk. Having grown up in a small town surrounded by farms and countryside, it has been a bit of a culture shock living in surburbia and there are times when I just need to escape. This afternoon was perfect – walking through the woods and fields; all I could hear were the grasshoppers and the birds and the wind – no traffic, no noise, no crowds. It was just such a relaxing way to end the holidays.

Cars and concrete posts

My car is in the garage at the moment due to needing a little more TLC after its annual service than anticipated. I drove Michael’s car for the first time at the weekend which was a little scary as it’s a lot bigger than mine. Still, all was going well until we got to the multi-storey car park and I got a little too friendly with a concrete post. Fortunately it sounded worse than it really was – the car is still intact, and so is my marriage. I have a trusting husband – he let me borrow the car again today!

Brides on the run

I do the Race for Life every year, which, as with this year, often falls on Sunday at the end of show week. As usual I was running with my friend Lindsay – this year as “Brides on the Run” due to being 2009 brides (September for her). We ran in tutus, veil and “L” plates (“P” plates in my case due to being a newly-wed) and had a bridesmaid in tow – Lindsay’s friend Kirsty joined us. We took the 5km race at a leisurely pace (finish time 58:32) and have raised £530 for cancer research so far which is great.

Last night of the show

The show is over – last night, as always, wasn’t the best night we’ve had, but still a little better than opening night with the exception of one chorus number where for some reason, none of the chorus (myself included) came in at the right time and stood on stage looking a little awkward for about four bars of music before managing to pick it up again! By the time I made it to the after show party, I was exhausted and ended up dozing off in a chair in the corner. Hopefully I’ll be more awake at today’s post-show barbecue!

Musical Mixtures - second night

Last night was a much better night all round – better atmosphere backstage, a lot of good performances from the cast and a much happier crew. The second night of a show is often one of the better nights – the cast are more relaxed than on opening night, but haven’t yet started to get complacent which is the danger with a longer run; the technical hitches which lingered into opening night have been sorted out. There is just one more performance to go – I have friends and family coming to see tonight’s show so hopefully it will be another good show.

Opening night

Opening night seems to have gone reasonably well, considering how bad the dress rehearsal was. Of course there were a few hitches – there always are, particularly when it’s only the second night in the theatre and some of the technical issues are still being straightened out (Wednesday’s dress rehearsal also doubled as the technical rehearsal). The show itself will be fine. What I find a little more concerning is the undercurrent of discontent that I’m starting to sense backstage and a gradual eroding of the feeling of being part of a mutually supportive team. Fingers crossed that this gets better.

Dodgy dress rehearsal

It wasn’t the worst dress rehearsal I’ve ever done, but it was a long, long way from being one of the better ones. It’s never a good thing when the first time the entire company is present for a run-through of the show is at the dress rehearsal (and I admit, I’m not in the best position to complain about that having missed the final three rehearsals before the get-in). The company numbers were decidedly hit and miss with a couple of last-minute changes. Hopefully the old adage will prove true – if so, tomorrow should be a cracking first night!

Costume call

Tonight was the get-in at the theatre for the summer concert and a final rehearsal before tomorrow’s dress rehearsal. I have been spending today trying to get all of my costumes together ready for the show – nothing like leaving things to the last minute! Fortunately my mother-in-law runs a costume hire business and provides most of the costumes for the show so finding something suitable is usually fairly straightforward even at this late stage. I seem to have ended up with quite a lot of costumes for not very many numbers though. Hopefully I’ve remembered to bring everything I need.

Homecoming

We are now back home after our lovely honeymoon. Michael went with tradition and carried me over the threshold of the flat – he did try to carry me up the stairs as well but I got a bit nervous about that and made him put me down again! Coming home and seeing everything from the wedding there has brought back all the excitement of our big day. We have been enjoying opening all the cards – so many lovely cards with such wonderfully warm and heartfelt messages from our friends and family; the challenge is finding room to display them all!

Day 7 - Lucerne

The final day of our honeymoon was spent in Lucerne, going up the world’s steepest cog-wheel railway to Mount Pilatus (7000ft). The day started off cloudy but the skies started to clear as we reached the top so we managed to get a good view from the top of the mountain. As we came back down, there were ten musicians standing outside the mountain-top hotel playing alphorns which sounded beautiful. We came down the mountain on the cable-car but stopped midway to go on the toboggan run which was great fun. All in all, it has been a wonderful honeymoon.

Day 6 - Zurich

The original plan for today was a trip to Lucerne and going up Mt Pilatus, but a quick peek out of the window at the pouring rain resulted in us deciding to spend today in Zurich instead and visit Lucerne tomorrow as the forecast looks more promising then. We visited the Fraumünster, which has some very lovely stained glass windows created by Marc Chagall, and then the Grossmünster for a trip up the tower for a panoramic view across Zurich. We also visited the Confiserie Sprüngli, but chocolate has lost its appeal after the amount we have eaten this week!

Day 5 - Jungfrau

After a few days basking in sunshine in temperatures of over 30°C, we went to the other extreme and donned winter woollies for a trip up the Jungfrau to play in the snow at 11,333ft above sea level. It meant another day of spending a lot of time on trains (over 10 hours) travelling back to Interlaken and then up the Jungfrau to the highest station in Europe. It was a shame that the weather wasn’t quite as nice as it had been so we didn’t get to see the view at its most spectacular but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Day 4 - Zurich

After all the travelling and sightseeing of the last few days, we decided to take today at a more leisurely pace. After taking advantage of the hotel’s pool and spa facilities, we finally ventured into central Zurich in the afternoon where we had a wander down the Bahnhofstrasse which is the main shopping area (bought some more chocolate, and have ended up having to buy an extra suitcase to get it all home!), and then rented a motor boat for a trip along the lake. We then finished up the evening with supper in one of the local beer halls.

Day 3 - Geneva to Zurich

We’ve spent today travelling across Switzerland from Geneva to Zurich, travelling firstly in a panoramic train (sitting right at the front of the train which felt a little like a rollercoaster when going up and down the mountains!) between Montreux and Zweisimmen and then on to Interlaken where we stopped for lunch. It was quite surreal sitting in the warm summer sunshine whilst looking across at the Jungfrau with its peak covered in snow. The final leg of our journey took us via Lucerne to Zurich taking in some rather pretty views across the lakes and mountains along the way.

Day 2 - Gruyères & Broc

Cheese and chocolate are both types of food that I love so today’s trip on the “train du chocolat” was something I had been looking forward to. It was really more of a cheese train than a chocolate train as we spent more time in Gruyères visiting the cheese factory and town than we did at the Maison Cailler chocolate factory. Michael and I discovered that we really could have too much cheese and chocolate – eating fondue was lovely but not something I really want to repeat, and the chocolate tasting session got a bit too much after a while!

Day 1 - Geneva

We have started off our honeymoon in Geneva, which is quite pretty (for a city). Last night we had a wander around a little bit of Lac Léman, visited the Jet d’Eau, a 140m high fountain (Michael got a little bit too close and got a soaking when the wind suddenly changed direction!) and the Horloge Fleurie, a working clock made from flowers, in the Jardin Anglais. We visited the cobbled streets of the old town later in the evening and had dinner in a brasserie there. Today, we are planning to go on a boat ride around the lake.

Our wedding day

Yesterday was, without doubt, the most amazing, wonderful, fabulous day of my whole life. I don’t think I stopped smiling from the moment I woke up until the moment I fell asleep last night. It was everything I’d dreamed it would be and more besides. Arriving at the church (30 minutes late!), seeing all my friends and family there and Michael looking so handsome in his morning suit; going from the church to the reception with everyone beeping and waving; Michael saying “my wife and I” during his speech; our first dance – I couldn’t have wished for a lovelier wedding.

The bride to be

It’s the morning of my wedding day and I’m enjoying a few moments of calm and stillness before everything gets going. I can’t believe this day is finally here – I’ve waited so long for this and now it is really happening. Am I nervous? No. Am I excited? Very. Am I happy? Cloud nine may well be an understatement! So far, the weather is looking reasonable – cloudy but not cold – keeping fingers crossed it doesn’t rain at crucial moments. I have a busy morning ahead of me but in just a few hours time, Michael and I will be married!

Last minute hiccups

Everything is now organised, packed and as far as I know, we are set for our wedding tomorrow. Of course there have been a few last minute hiccups today – the waistcoats not arriving in the hire shop on time resulting in our best man having to rush around trying to sort that out; the coach company phoning to tell me that the minibus I was hiring had broken down and was in the garage meaning that I had to find another company to hire a minibus from. Otherwise, it is all going well and I’m getting very excited about tomorrow!

Praying for reasonable weather

The only things left on my to-do list now are to pack for the honeymoon and to drop our going away outfits at the reception venue! Everything is coming together – except for the weather which is forecast to be heavy rain showers. I’m praying for no rain (at least not on arrival or during photographs) and for it to be warm. Cloudiness is fine, just really hope it is not raining at the critical moments. There’s nothing I can do about it of course, so why worry? All the same, I can’t help hoping that the weather forecast is wrong.

The dangers of house cleaning

It seemed like a good idea to hire a carpet cleaner and clean the carpets properly this afternoon before the bridesmaids descend on my flat at the weekend. Cleaning the stairs proved to be quite a challenge – I thought I had the carpet cleaner securely placed at the top of the stairs and then the next minute it came tumbling down the stairs after me drenching me from head to toe in soapy water (and even worse, the dirty water which was being sucked up from the carpet as I was cleaning). Still at least it didn’t land on me!

Work hen night

I have had such a fun evening out with the girls from work for my work hen night. Jen had provided party bags for everyone with different dares to do throughout the evening – for mine I had to speak in rhyme for 30 minutes (which meant that I was mostly quiet during this time but did end up asking the waiter – “Excuse me, I seem to have run out of vino so please could I have a small class of Pinot. And while I’m at it, I think that we oughta have a refill of our jug of tap water”).

Trying to fit in rehearsal time

Had another chance to rehearse my duet with Jenny this evening which was good – we seem to have picked one of the trickiest numbers to sing in the entire show – trying to get the timing right when we’re both singing has been a challenge but hopefully we’re getting there now. I need to also try and sort out costumes for the show during this week so that everything is ready when we get back from honeymoon. I also need to finish off the programme so it can be printed – sometimes I wonder if I try to juggle too many things!

Show run-through

Had the first run-through of the summer concert this afternoon (well, the only run-through as far as Michael and I are concerned as the next chance we will get to run through the show will be at the dress rehearsal). I nearly didn’t make it at the start of rehearsal as an accident on the motorway had me stuck for an hour before I got moving again! The rehearsal wasn’t too bad, although I have never felt this unprepared for a show before! I have one more rehearsal before the wedding then my next rehearsal will be in the theatre.

Hen night

I have had the most amazing hen night this evening thanks to my family and friends. We started out at a local pub for a meal and then headed off to a karaoke bar for the evening. Fortunately everyone entered into the spirit of it all and joined in. I got up with my sister to sing “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” which wasn’t the most appropriate song to sing on my hen night but then finished up with “Get Me To The Church On Time” which was a much better choice! I still can’t quite believe that I’m getting married in a week!

Wedding brain

I’ve come to the conclusion that preparing to get married can bring on a type of amnesia – otherwise known as “wedding-brain”. My head is so full of everything that I need to do between now and next Saturday that everything else gets forgotten. Twice this week I have left the house and gone to work without any mobile phone, and once without the pager as well, so I was completely un-contactable. Even remembering the pager wasn’t a lot of use as I couldn’t actually respond to any messages. Just as well that I don’t have anyone due at the moment!

Unfortunate typo

The orders of service are now printed, copied, stapled and ready to go. They’ve been spell-checked and proof-read and seem to be fine. The church administrator was telling me a story about a friend who spell-checked but didn’t proof-read the order of service for her wedding. A typo towards the end of verse 4 of the hymn “And can it be that I should gain?” had a letter “a” missing from the word “chains” resulting in the line reading “My chins fell off, my heart was free” Hopefully we won’t make any similar errors, but it is a funny story!

The dangers of sat-nav reliance

I’ve recently upgraded my sat-nav. The new model calculates the quickest routes based on traffic information and lets you know how much time the delays will add to your journey. The extra features have meant that I’ve started relying on the sat-nav again despite not really needing it to find my way around. I’ve discovered the traffic updates are not very reliable at all – I’ve been stuck in very slow traffic jams that haven’t registered a couple of times and spent an hour and a half today travelling three miles while the sat-nav kept assuring me the route was clear.