Two whole months, in fact. I’ve been busy with working, socialising, travelling – oh, and wedding plans. It’s amazing how much is involved in organising a half-hour event and a few hours’ celebration! But there you go – can’t make an omelette, etc…
Anyway, to recap: my Ireland visit was a hoot. Celebrating my dad’s birthday involved getting up on the Saturday morning, trekking to City airport (an oasis of calm compared to the usual airport experience), flying to Dublin, hiring a car, fighting (serious) traffic to Mullingar, booking in at the hotel, having dinner, getting sloshed, retiring at 2:30 AM, rising at 7:30 AM, letting Fiona drive back to Dublin because my blood-alcohol level was still ridiculous, flying home, collapsing exhausted.
It’s the sort of itinerary I would have shrugged off ten years ago, but it wore me out! I don’t think the seventeen glasses of fine wine helped, either… But it was a good night, to be sure: meeting up with the family all in one place is a rare occasion these days, and I think the next one will be my wedding day. And that’s still being organised…
Next trip was my first to Egypt, and the overall impression was wonderful. The Egyptian people are almost universally friendly and welcoming, and very keen to make your stay as pleasant as possible. Of course, in my usual cram-as-much-as-possible-in approach to holidaymaking, I insisted on a fairly punishing itinerary, which kinda peaked with getting up at 4 AM to fly to Cairo for the Giza pyramids/Cairo museum day trip. We also did the Valley of the Kings and a day cruise to Dendara Temple – both with early starts, but the cruise was most tranquil! Lots of pics, as per usual, and I may even get around to posting some in the gallery. Watch that space…
Back in Blighty, a couple of weeks passed and then we were off for a nice weekend break in Hastings. We stayed at Swan House, which is a marvellously quirky old B&B in Hastings Old Town with enormous rooms and lots of mod cons – and a delicious breakfast menu. No burnt bacon or stale cornflakes here; the salmon & scrambled eggs I had were superb. Mingled that with trips around the area, including a tour of Battle Abbey – guided by hand-held tour guides that gave a blow-by-blow account of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Most edifying!
Meanwhile, wedding plans move apace, with the venue booked (The High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells), the band booked (The Roadhouse Five, the registrar alerted, the honeymoon trip to Cape Verde booked… and there’s still loads to do! Got to organise suits, rings, flowers, invites, etc. But at least photography is sorted – I’ve got my dad (a veteran wedding photographer) and mates Ian, Howard and Matt adding their respective personal touches to the reportage of the event. Should be interesting sorting through the thousands of pics afterwards!
Next in the diary is my birthday bash, on the 10th November in the Bedford & Strand in WC2, at 7:30pm. If you can make it, be good to see you!
Better go do some work now, before they start yelling at me…
Cya!