Today I am attending the wedding of Liz and Paul. They are an amazing couple that I met while I
was on my South America section of my World Odyssey and we travelled from Lima
through to Rio together which was around 10 weeks in total. The bonus for me was that Kate T was going to
be there, she was my tentie for 4 months of the same trip, Kate S was attending
and we did 6 weeks and also Mike who did 12 weeks of the trip. It was going to be like a mini reunion and I
was looking forward to the day ahead.
I woke this morning at 4.30am. I guess my time clock and possibly some
jetlag was kicking in and I was feeling fresh as a daisy. So I used the time to finish packing and
before I knew it, it was 7am and I needed to get moving. I was going to get breakfast at the station,
so I just needed to get my bags into the storage room and get myself down to
Paddington Station. So with this in mind
I wanted to be leaving for the station at 8am.
I also had to collet my ticket from the ticket machine and I wanted to
make sure I left myself some ‘snafu’ time in case there was a problem. I took my bags to reception, I have 4. The monster, my small backpack, the gym bag
and the environ bag with the things I would need for tomorrow that I would swap
with the clothes I am taking with me today.
So I was told that it would be 2GBP per day per bag!!! I wouldn’t need them back till the 5th of
January making it 10 days-it was going to cost me 80GBP to store them. That was ridiculous. I don’t mind paying some money but that was
just a rip and I told them as much (nicely).
There were 2 behind the counter, so they had a small discussion and then
gave me a price of 20GBP. There we go,
that is much better price and one I was happier to pay. So with my bags safely delivered I made my
way to the station. I was hungry at this
point but I wanted to make sure that I had my tickets before I started fluffing
around with breakfast and it is just as well.
I got to the ticket machine, popped in my credit card and
then my confirmation number and as the tickets spat I got an awful feeling in
my stomach as I realised that I was at the wrong station to catch my train to
Brighton! It was now 8.15am and I was at
Paddington and my train departed from St Pancreas Station at 8.56am. Holy Cow!
I was travelling on a travel anytime ticket, so it wasn’t the issue of
losing my fare but I had Kate S meeting me at Brighton Station and I certainly didn’t
want to keep her waiting. So I had 40
minutes to work out what Tube I needed, I had to get cash from an ATM and then
find my way to the right platform at St Pancreas which is massive. Well little did I know how HUGE Paddington Station
was and of course the Hammersmith and Circle line was on the other side of the
station, walking seriously 10 minutes, flying past an ATM and getting cash,
using my credit card to purchase the Tube ticket to St Pancreas I was sitting
on the tube at 8.25am. I had 5 stops to
go through to get to Kings Cross which is connected to St Pancreas and then I
had to haul some serious arse once I arrived.
I pulled into KC at 8.40am and then had to find where the hell my train
was leaving from. I had to traverse the
whole length of St Pancreas to get to the platforms and it was here I asked a
staff member where I had to go which was lucky as I was heading in the wrong direction
and I made it to the platform with 4 minutes to spare. PHEW. Can you believe I made it? Talk about a panic start to the day! I knew when I booked the ticket back in
Australia that it left from St P, it just didn’t dawn on me till I got my
tickets and that I was at the wrong station.
I am going to blame jet lag on that one.
Clearly and squarely. Damn
jetlag.
The train from London to Brighton took an hour and 15
minutes. It wasn’t too busy and had the
seats to myself for the whole journey.
The weather outside looked dreary though and I am not sure that the
jacket I have bought from home will be warm enough, especially as I head to Scotland
in a few days. I may have to head to the
shops tomorrow afternoon when I get back to London and see what is around. At least it is the right time to be buying a
jacket, in the English winter. In my
defence it would have been hard to find a jacket in Brisbane as it was 35C when
I left there only a few days ago. Kate S
was waiting for me when I arrived and we drove to the Mecure Brighton where
Kate T and her mum were staying. We were
going to get ready in their room, as our accommodation for the night was out
near the wedding reception 35 minutes away.
I hadn’t seen Kate T since our tour in April and it was great to see her
again and to meet her mum. We decided to
have an early lunch as we weren’t 100% sure when we were going to be fed and didn’t
want to start drinking with no food in our tummies. As it worked out this was a very smart idea.
The church was only down the road from the hotel so to
give us enough time we decided to leave at 12.30pm for the 1pm service. Kate T and her mum, Carolyn, were in a car
and Kate S and I were in another.
Someone failed to mention to us that the traffic on the esplanade was
going to be shocking, not just bad-shocking and that there are a lot of one way
streets in Brighton, so after a wrong turn into a square estate- then setting
the sat nav and it directing us into a very busy supermarket car park-we asked
for directions-got back onto the esplanade and then finally found the school where
we could park to find that it was closed!
By this time it was 1.10pm. We
were officially 10 minutes late and just hoped that Liz, the bride, was also
stuck in this traffic and that we weren’t going to be too late. With the gate locked, I did a run to the
front of the school to try and find someone, which I couldn’t, the place was
locked up like Fort Knox, I went back to the locked gate and the girls were
just driving in. Somehow-some-one in a
waiting car had a key and let us in.
Thank goodness. We then had to
hightail it up the street and around the corner to the church and as we climbed
the church stairs we were told that the bride was about to arrive! Hooray-we weren’t late!!!! When we entered the church we were asked if we
knew the bride or the groom and said both-which side of the church needed a
numbers boost and we took some seats in the middle-and I think it was the bride’s
side. We waved to Paul as he sat
nervously waiting for his bride and we also saw Mike, so with us all sitting
together our mini reunion was now complete.
As we waited for Liz to enter the church I was able to
have a look around the beautiful church. St. Michael's Church (in
full, St. Michael and All Angels)
is an Anglican church dating from the mid-Victorian
era. It is one of the largest
churches in the city of Brighton and Hove. The church is rated in the top
100 churches in the UK and I can see why.
Plans for the church were drawn up in 1858, and construction took place
between 1860 and 1861 to a design by George Frederick Bodley (whose father had been a doctor in
Brighton and a resident of the Furze Hill area of Hove. The design of the exterior was reminiscent of the Italianate style, in red brick with
horizontal bands of white stone and a steeply pitched slate roof. This featured
a modest flèche spire containing a bell recovered from Sevastopol during the Crimean War (1854–1856). The church took two years to build at a cost
of £6,728, and was consecrated by
the Bishop of Chichester on 29 September 1862. There was room
for a congregation of 700; pew rent was charged on 300 of these seats at
first. No payment for us today to
witness the union between Liz and Paul and I don’t think there is a better part
of any wedding than your first glimpse of the bride and Liz was no
exception. She was stunning. The service went for around 45 minutes and
with a choir singing the hymns and the use of the church’s organ; it was just
amazing to be part of the whole service.
We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside the church (photographer’s
request) but once the ceremony was finished and we stood outside to farewell
the happy couple I took some to catch up.
It was cold outside, and windy, but Liz battled the elements and didn’t pop
a coat on from the church to the car the poor thing, but boy she was beautiful.
There was to be drinks at the reception venue at 3pm, which
was about a 30 minute drive away. So we
has an hour to get there from Brighton and based on our knowledge of the area
and with the debacle we had getting to the church, we were a little more wise
and made sure we had the address and everything we needed for the drive. So our plan was to drive to our
accommodation, check-in, drop off our bags, leave Kate S’s car at the
accommodation and then we were going to get a lift with them to the
reception. As it turned out Mike was
also staying at the same pub-so this plan worked in well for everyone. Even though the sat nav had given us the run
around this morning it is what we relied on to get us to Newick and it didn’t let
us down this time. The Bull on the Green
is a pub, restaurant and bed & breakfast in the heart of the Sussex
countryside situated right on the Green in the East Sussex village of Newick. The accommodation was renovated
garage/stables out the rear of the pub and our room was on the ground floor and
had 2 double beds. This would do us just
fine for the night.
By the time we had found the pub, checked in, and arrive
at the reception venue it was nearly 4pm but when we walked through the door,
our jackets were taken and then we walked into a large room that had a log fire
roaring, the bar was located in the adjoining room that had a magnificent Christmas
tree and then there were small rooms that branched off that. One of the finest traditions to be found in
England is that of the country house, and what an amazing country house this
was.
Newick Park is one of the few homes to still be privately
owned and it shows with its fabulous antiques and wonderful staff. The lovely Georgian house is Grade II listed
and is surrounded by its own private park of 255 acres with the most fabulous
views over the lake and nearby South Downs.
It was just about dark when we arrived so we didn’t get to see too much
of the grounds but it was a beautiful house.
There are sixteen bedrooms which are individually designed, but cost
wise and the lateness of Kate and I booking accommodation we were staying at
The Bull 10 minutes away.
The theme of the wedding was winter and Christmas and the
venue reflected that. From the beautiful
Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, the cake had snowflakes, the colour
theme was the Tiffany blue colour and when we made it into the dining room our
table settings included our name tag with snowflakes and a bonbon to
crack. The ‘South American’ crew were a
little shocked that the seating arrangements had Kate S and I on one table and
the other 3 on another table but in saying that we had a nice evening with the
other 4 people we had on our table and after dinner we were able to hang back
together. I do need to mention that the
food was amazing and the service of the staff was exceptional. Kate S and I had to take a break from the
wine as it just kept getting topped up all night so much so that nobody had to
reach for a bottle themselves, seriously not once, and not just the wine, the
water was also kept topped all night. It
is hard to remember when I have seen service like that, in a long time. After dinner the DJ kicked in and the dance floor
was laid. Paul and Liz are known for
their taste in 80’s music and movies and local bands and the music played
represented this and it was a great way to finish off a wonderful day. I hate to say that my jetlag was catching up
with me at 11pm and after saying our good-bye’s Kate S, Mike and I got a lift
back to the pub and then Kate T and Carolyn continued back to Brighton to their
hotel.
So my heart felt CONGRATULATIONS goes to Liz and
Paul. Thank you for letting me share in
your day and I wish you all the happiness in the world as you keep embarking on
your life together.
To Mr and Mrs Paul Mills
xx
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