::@:: Reality of Dreams ::@::

(this was written as the day progressed, on my ipod :))

Saturday was Ali and Gillian’s wedding. Which is my third wedding this year, I think three more to go. It ended up, for various reasons, that I was going on a day ticket on the ferry. It meant I couldn’t stay as long a I wanted but it was cheap.

Anyway, after seeing “wanted” on Friday night I headed to my parents and got up at the unnatural 6am so I could be on the road for 715. At any rate I ended up in Belfast with an hour to kill before I even started to get to the hall for the wedding. So I decided to grab some lunch as you can never say how long it will be before you get food at the reception

As I wondered the streets I happened across the Ginger bistro. After perusing a perfectly sized lunch menu I elected on the “simple mushroom and parmesan risotto”, which at £7 didn’t seem too bad value. I wasn’t disappointed, a most flavourful and satisfying risotto later I headed back to the streets (having managed to resist a tempting dessert menu) and on to the wedding venue, with an hour to spare. I aimed to be early as I needed to get changed.

After arriving and finding out my shirt was crushed, even for me it was bad, I was asked if I could video the wedding. The service was good and the various musical interludes of a high standard, not a huge surprise for an army wedding (we do tend to be a bit spoilt for music ability). My good friend Chris said he would not only give me a lift to the reception but also back to the ferry which was rather nice of him.

Annoyingly the rain came on but thankfully after the wedding party had left. The rain was a bit sporadic which was a bit of a shame but it wasn’t an issue really… at least not for me.

After the obligatory long wait until the meal, during which time I discovered I was seated at a table of officers and two babies, thankfully I knew three of the officers and one kid (the Hintons and Janet Robson). Time was fast running out for me as I was aiming to leave at 9ish to insure that I was on time. Much to timing’s dismay the speeches were first and they took a while, as the seem to do from my experience. This did, however, have the effect that the first course came out very quickly and was followed suit by the main, the dessert followed more leisurely after the cake cutting. As for the standard of the food, well, it was most excellent.

At about 915pm Chris very kindly took me to the port, which we eventually found despite the sat nav then thinking that we were in the water . What followed was a bit of a wait, arrived a bit early and the ferry was late. After another ferry journey of sketching, and a brief snooze, I arrived back in stranraer at 0050, a good 40minutes later than I expected. After a long journey I eventually arrived back at my parents at 3am.

It may have been exhausting but is was a fantastic day and worth every ache and sleep deprevation.