hathycol | (no subject)

I had a really lovely weekend. Skipped out of work early on Friday, and had a brief walk in the glorious sunshine. Quickly packed all of my stuff away, rather less quickly ironed my Fancy Dress, and headed to the car to drive to Newmarket.

We were going to Newmarket not for the horses, but in fact for the wedding of Sophie and Nathan. Richie used to live with Sophie but I was a bit unsure of who I would actually know at this wedding. Still, we arrived on a sunny Friday afternoon and went to the pub for a bit, where I freaked out at HOW CHEAP the drinks were. I am far too acclimatised to London. We then went for a slightly rubbish meal and retired to our surprisingly comfortable room in the Premier Inn for wine and, in my case, a lot of hummous. Man but do I know how to live dangerously.

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast, we got dressed and headed to the church, which was in Girton. It was a fabulous drive, quiet country lanes and glorious sunshine. There was a minor scuffle in terms of parking but oh my goodness, what a beautiful church - ancient Norman building, a real sense of history behind it. The service was a very, very traditional Church of England ceremony but rather lovely, even despite singing 'I Vow To Thee My Country'. Several of Richie's old housemates were there, including Claire who was DocSoc President after me, so that was good too.

After the service we headed back to Newmarket. We got slightly lost due to the SatNav dying, but we gave Megan - another old housemate of Richie's - a lift, and she directed us. Ended up going along the Backs at Cambridge, which was a lovely treat. Again, it was just... enjoyable. Sunny skies, clear roads, good company. We made it to the location for the reception without too much difficulty in the end, an old renovated barn. It was, again, utterly lovely and the champagne flowed very freely. We stood and chatted with Claire, George and Megan, talking about Claire and George's upcoming nuptials and generally catching up.

The meal was fabulous as well- fillet steak! except not for me, I had mushrooms - with more lovely wine, and some very sweet speeches. Okay, slight awkwardness of sitting on a table with someone who had the same fascinator than me, but there we go.

In the evening there was a bad, and had I been wearing socks I would have danced them off. I can't believe how much I've been missing going for a dance! At the end of the reception there were buses to take up back to our hotels, and I fell into bed in an exhausted but happy haze.

The next day Richie and I met up with other St Andrews friends for breakfast, before getting another provided bus back to the reception venue and picking up the car. The day was unbelievably beautiful, so Richie and I headed up to Bury St Edmunds for the afternoon. We ate ice cream in the sun in the Abbey Gardens, and had a look around the cathedral too. It was just a bit of a surprise how lovely the town was - perhaps it was a sunshine, but hell, I was happy. In fact I rather liked East Anglia in general. There's something to remember for the future.

So no complaints here. I have determined that, after a properly crappy few months, this damned year is going to improve. I will detail the plans for this later, but in short a lot of it is writing more often and taking the time to really enjoy weekends like the one that I just had.