Journal Entries
Overwhelmed
Posted Jul 22, 1999
Well, we survived it all and now I'm back.
The wedding was a superb day, I had great fun. Even the service is a lot more interesting when you're up the front and taking part 
. The wedding went mostly smoothly, and the reception venue came up trumps after appearing worryingly incompetent in the weeks leading up - as it was, they only played the wrong music and screwed up the seating arrangements (top table was OK, so we didn't notice until the meal was half-way through, and then there didn't seem a lot of point moving everyone). People mostly muddled through; the main concern was Gurhan, whose English isn't wonderful so separation from his wife Ayse had the potential for disaster, but even he was smiling.
The honeymoon was memorable - two lovely but very different homes, one very chic and sophisticated nestled in the woods outside Siena, one very rustic perched on a dramatic mountainside North-East of Pisa. We had a superb time at both, though Mother Nature's footsoldiers (some with more feet than strictly necessary) did sometimes seem determined to eat us alive or scare us to death.
So, now it's phase three of the life readjustment - I've dropped a job and gained a wife, all I need is a new home in a new country. Our house in County Galway is waiting for us to move in, and things can start to settle down. I'll almost miss the upheaval.
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Latest reply: Jul 22, 1999
A Day of Loss
Posted Jun 17, 1999
Sad news today of the loss of two notables in British society who on the surface couldn't be more different, but both had gentle and warm souls.
I'm not a Catholic, but I'll miss Basil Hume. He was a man who believed in people as well as one who believed in God. His secular pronouncements (and they're the only ones I can judge) always seemed well thought-out, caring and wise. His congregation certainly loved him - he conducted mass at my fiancee's church just a few weeks ago, one of his last I suppose, and it was filled to the rafters - and the people left happy to have seen him, he took them past the sadness of his own mortality.
Screaming Lord Sutch, on the other hand, always tried not to be wise, it wasn't the point of his party - despite notable successes (did you know the Monster Raving Loonies were the first party to campaign for the vote at 18 instead of 21?). He just thought the whole political process was too stuffy and full of its own importance - and if New Labour doesn't embody that, I don't know what does - and he was up for bursting their bubble. The only parties he really wanted in the corridors of power were wild ones with booze and drugs and pretty girls. He chose to spend his pop royalties on brightening up the ballot paper in bye-elections the country over, rather than becoming just another fat retired rocker. In his own way he served the people as much as if he'd been elected - maybe more.
In the end, they both made people's days a little happier. To lose two of the few people who manage that in one day is cruel.
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Latest reply: Jun 17, 1999
A step into the unknown
Posted Jun 17, 1999
Well, I posted the beginnings of my curry guide today. Normally I'd do a lot more to an article before publishing, but in this case I'm hoping for lots of feedback, so the main job is just to get it started.
Now I'd best get on with some other shouting I've got to do.
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Latest reply: Jun 17, 1999
King Mark
Posted Jun 15, 1999
I saw an ad in the paper for a "VW Golf Mark IV". I assumed this was a special edition, named after some elegant former German royal. Imagine my surprise to find that neither Germany nor any other European country for which I have records has had a King Mark, let alone a fourth one.
Who is playing with our minds? I think we should be told.
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Latest reply: Jun 15, 1999
The Rumble of Distant Thunder
Posted Jun 10, 1999
Hurrah! It seems like Jim's decided on a late-night editing session, so we're seeing some new items roll in!
Best of all, John-the-gardener's got an article in - just the combination of talent and modesty we need to give a good shot of encouragement to, so he keeps producing the stuff we so enjoy.
The only scary things is, these sessions seem to have an alphabetical sequence (the last batch was Egg, ESP, Feet), and we've had Satuday and Saxophone - I could be up for my first rejection for the "Senso Unico" article. Oh, what the heck, I can handle failure.
*sob*
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Latest reply: Jun 10, 1999
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