Wedding dorks

One other thing I forgot to mention about Sarah’s wedding was the rehearsal. Throughout the whole thing there was a bunch of kids on the church roof. They had obviously inherited their parents genes that were evident at the Strangeways riots of the 90’s. They must be proud of them.

It reminded me of mine and Emma’s wedding when the local youths helped decorate the church by writing mine and Emma’s names on the church lych-gate in graffiti. They also nicked my uncle Harold’s taxi sign off the top of his car. We got revenge on them by unleashing Danny Love on the bagpipes. That scared them off!

Muck!

The first of the Borders cross country races got underway yesterday with a race in the English village of Norham. This is my favourite course as it takes you through marshes, cow fields and some pretty steep banks. This year the rope had been brought back. Basically the hill is so steep and muddy that you need a rope to pull yourself up. Greta fun and I came 21st out of 111. These races are not very serious and this was proven when the local farmer joined the run in his wellie’s and overalls. The kids also did a tamer version and did better than last year. The next one is in Dunbar where I am going to try and get in the top 15. As Raven always puts it…’let the challenge begin!’

That's ADSA price!

It finally opened its doors today after months...years of planning...ASDA opened its Dunbar store. Time will tell if it will bring closure to all the charity shops on the high street of Dunbar and the other little shops, but for now it is the new kid on the block and the way some locals talk about it ou would think the second coming has just taken place. Put it into perspective...its a shop that sells cheap stuff. It will never beat Mr Ullah's of Brunage Food Store. Anyway look at the photo of this multi million pound stores promotion shot. How emabrrassing for them.

Master of Disguise

It was Halloween the other day and for most of my life as a Christian I have been told how Halloween is a doorway to the occult and all that evil stuff. I have always accepted that as fact until we moved up here. In Scotland it a big event. The kids go mad for it and trick or treating (known as 'guising') is all good humoured and no real mannace is used to get sweets off the neighbours. In fact I drew the conclusion that celebrating Halloween is as much likely to cause a kid to fall prey to the occult, as selling Christmas cards at ASDA is going to cause someone to turn to Christ. Yes of course there are loads of other dangers but the kids round here always have an adult near by in case some perv lures them into his/her lair.
For Stuart, Halloween is the highlight of the year as he gets to dress up. He found good use for his wedding jacket....Dracula! Then my morals were put firmly to the test. Should I let him go guising? It was then I realised most kids in Dunbar know who i am through my schools work. So if I was to do it I had to go in disguise myself. So off i went dressed as a mummy wearing a balding grave diggers wig and a grey cape. Even with that on and no possibility of anyone recognising me I felt such a tit. The first door was knocked and my neighbour appears staring at Stuart (also masked) and then at me. He had no idea who I was but was clearly initimidated by the scene and ran in and gave Stuart a hand full of sweets. The next house was the same...and so on. It was as near to becoming an armed robber as i will ever get...masked and armed with a dangerous child. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get a bag full of sweets...but at the same time how embarrassing it was. We reached the street where one of the local fundamentalist Christians lives...and it was there I chickened out and returned home in case she tried to exorcise me or something.

Dunbar Crime

Andrew had his first encounter woth Dunbar crime last week. He had left his 2 month old bike at school to go to his mates house. When he returned it was gone. We checked with the janitor at the school to see if CCTV had picked anything up...but no as it switches off at 5pm! Useful CCTV that is then? Anyway having driven around some of Dunbar's higher crime rate areas...there aren't many so it didn't take long...we decided to report it to the police. To our surprise sat behind the counter was Andrew's bike in full working order. Someone had handed it in after they found it near the railway tunnel. It's just over a month until Christmas...it was a brand new bike...these acts of honesty don't really happen do they? What was even more amusing was that the police didn't even ask me for proof of who I was. They just handed it over.

Wedding of the year

Well since my last entry our Sarah has got married to Rob. It meant a trip down to Manchester for us all. As we were about to leave for the tedious 4and half hour journey, Cath rings to say that everyone in Burnage has got the runs and throwing up. As Isabelle was going to be a bridesmaid then we didn't want her getting it too. So to avoid the plague we went to Cheshire to stay in Cath & Rich's new pad in Knutsford. It's very nice there and very posh. We did our usual tour of the charity shops and the assistants just looked at us with pity as if we were in need of their chritable help. Its very nice indeed. In the mornings I went for a run to Tatton Park..the local country estate with a magnificent lake and woodland. I went for a call of nature myself and ended up surrounded by deer...and most wrrying was the stags who were growling at me and waving their antelrs. I asn't sure if it was a mating ritual or a message to tell me to sod off. Either way I wasn't hanging around to find out.
Anyway back to the plague...Thursday night at Cath's new house Isabelle decides to get it. Somehow it reached her and she threw up all over the walls and carpet. Better out than in! By Saturday she was fine.

So the wedding day arrived....where were Isabelle's bridesmaid shoes? In Knutsford was the answer...so off I went back to the Cheshire life. It was a fine day and good to see loads of people who we haven't seen for donkeys. All my dad's siblings were there too...a first since my grandma died. Everyone looked older and fatter. I do too but not that much.

So that's the last of the weddings for a while unless Rebecca decides to get married or Emma Beddows! Whilst we were there Sharon & Colin's visas for Oz arrived so it looks like our next family get together will be to send them off unless Rob & Sarah decide to have a baby...the race is on!

Photo: My dad and his siblings. Isabelle & Sarah and us all.