Thursday, September 02, 2004
June
Suzanne and Mia were down in Addlestone at the beginning of June, so I had a chance to catch up with them before heading off to France for the weekend to see Celine (my pen friend from a school exchange when I was 12!) getting married to Albert…. I got the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe on Friday afternoon, and then drove down to St Lo, arriving early evening. I had dinner with the family and met Albert, his sister, parents, and aunt & uncle, before heading off to a local hotel for the night – only to find that the room Celine and Albert had booked me was already occupied by some other wedding guests!! So Albert came back to find me and bring me back to Celine’s and I ended up sleeping in her bed, whilst she and Albert slept on cushions in the lounge!! I did try to convince Albert that they couldn’t sleep in the lounge on the night before their wedding, however as it was his mistake in double-booking the hotel, he would not budge – never argue with a policeman!! The wedding day was beautiful: the marriage at the Town Hall, then on to the church for the ceremony, and finally to the reception…. We had champagne and nibbles – French style this was cakes rather savoury snacks, which was a bit weird, but very nice!! We then all loitered and chatted and drank more champagne… there were a few photos taken and then we all went for a walk around the lake across the road – were were at a place called Torigni sur Vire, just south of where Celine lives – looking back it all looks very bourgeois and reminds me of stories by Guy de Maupassant….
Anyway, we finally sat down to dinner at 8pm!!! The food was lovely, and there were about 5 courses, but in between each course the dj – who was at our table – got up, put some music on and got us dancing – a very interesting way to get your food digesting. So dinner didn’t finish til 2am, and then the dancing really started!! The evening also include an impromptu “Mr and Mrs” style game show, which Celine and Albert did not know about, but managed to win! And Albert, being from Dunkerque, had organised a mini Dunkerque carnival, with him and his friends and family dressing up and singing and dancing for the rest of us……. At about 4am, having drunk quite a bit, but feeling surprisingly sober, I, and a load of others got in our cars and made the 10 minute drive to a gite/dorm that Celine had hired and we all passed out……I slept superbly, although some people said there was a lot of snoring – I’m sure it wasn’t me!!!! The next day, there was yet more celebrations – a buffet lunch, but I had to head back to Dieppe at 1, so I helped Celine’s mum set things up then headed off…. Had to do a detour round Caen, as this was the weekend of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches, so they’d closed the motorway! Got to see some nice countryside!!
Other than that it was more DIY weekends at Gerwyn’s – if you’re quick, you could go to Haart in Swindon’s web site and search for 2 bedroom flats and you’ll find his one…
Oh, and I think there was the European Football Cup or something like that, but if you’re really interested, ask someone else!!
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Suzanne and Mia were down in Addlestone at the beginning of June, so I had a chance to catch up with them before heading off to France for the weekend to see Celine (my pen friend from a school exchange when I was 12!) getting married to Albert…. I got the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe on Friday afternoon, and then drove down to St Lo, arriving early evening. I had dinner with the family and met Albert, his sister, parents, and aunt & uncle, before heading off to a local hotel for the night – only to find that the room Celine and Albert had booked me was already occupied by some other wedding guests!! So Albert came back to find me and bring me back to Celine’s and I ended up sleeping in her bed, whilst she and Albert slept on cushions in the lounge!! I did try to convince Albert that they couldn’t sleep in the lounge on the night before their wedding, however as it was his mistake in double-booking the hotel, he would not budge – never argue with a policeman!! The wedding day was beautiful: the marriage at the Town Hall, then on to the church for the ceremony, and finally to the reception…. We had champagne and nibbles – French style this was cakes rather savoury snacks, which was a bit weird, but very nice!! We then all loitered and chatted and drank more champagne… there were a few photos taken and then we all went for a walk around the lake across the road – were were at a place called Torigni sur Vire, just south of where Celine lives – looking back it all looks very bourgeois and reminds me of stories by Guy de Maupassant….
Anyway, we finally sat down to dinner at 8pm!!! The food was lovely, and there were about 5 courses, but in between each course the dj – who was at our table – got up, put some music on and got us dancing – a very interesting way to get your food digesting. So dinner didn’t finish til 2am, and then the dancing really started!! The evening also include an impromptu “Mr and Mrs” style game show, which Celine and Albert did not know about, but managed to win! And Albert, being from Dunkerque, had organised a mini Dunkerque carnival, with him and his friends and family dressing up and singing and dancing for the rest of us……. At about 4am, having drunk quite a bit, but feeling surprisingly sober, I, and a load of others got in our cars and made the 10 minute drive to a gite/dorm that Celine had hired and we all passed out……I slept superbly, although some people said there was a lot of snoring – I’m sure it wasn’t me!!!! The next day, there was yet more celebrations – a buffet lunch, but I had to head back to Dieppe at 1, so I helped Celine’s mum set things up then headed off…. Had to do a detour round Caen, as this was the weekend of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches, so they’d closed the motorway! Got to see some nice countryside!!
Other than that it was more DIY weekends at Gerwyn’s – if you’re quick, you could go to Haart in Swindon’s web site and search for 2 bedroom flats and you’ll find his one…
Oh, and I think there was the European Football Cup or something like that, but if you’re really interested, ask someone else!!
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