Setting Dates...

C and I have set the date*.

The 2nd of December 2006.

The venue is booked, the best man and matron of honour are lined up and as of yesterday my two little neices are booked in as flower girls. One great-nephew of C's is still to be asked about page-boy activities. C's sister is her matron of honour and due to a disparity of ages, she is already a grandmother. One of her grandsons is the great-nephew in question.

A friend of some fifteen years standing is my best man. I kind of regret that I don't have that one "best mate" for whom I'm also their best mate, but he's a great mate all the same. And I know where his bodies are buried as well as he does mine, so the speech will be safe enough. I'm harking back to Cold War terms like Mutual Assured Destruction here, but you get my drift!

I never thought I'd end up having an actual wedding with a "normal" reception and all the rest, but it should be a good day. I always imagined I'd be one of those ones who surprised their house warming guests with a wedding surprise.

I've been trying to work out why I've been uncomfortable with the idea of a wedding (as distinct from the being married part) and I have to admit part of it has just been an awkwardness about romantic, sickly sweet displays of affection... worse yet, in full view of other people. Truth is, though, it must be the real deal with C, because right now the prospect doesn't bother me at all.

The thing that I'm really fearing is the bridal registry. I've never felt comfortable recieving material gifts. There's far too much stuff in the world and I've never been a particularly material guy. The idea of actually asking people for gifts and suggesting something for them to buy is of deep personal embarrassment. I'm not yet sure how we're going to get past that issue. Time will tell.

*I'm just going to work on the understanding that this particular phrase comes with an implicit understanding such that I will not need to clarify exactly what we have set the date for :)

muppets save the world...

So I tripped over this little gem :)

I love the muppets. I'm not even kidding. My favourite little golden book when I was a kid was "The Monster At The End Of This Book". They did a sequel, too, with Grover and Elmo. Of course Elmo is the fearless little fella turning the pages.

...

Okay, so I'm watching Grey's Anatomy and I just have to ask.

Is Katherine Heigl hot or what?

A bit of cultural fun...

Yesterday C* and I went to the symphony. We were given tickets to the MSO Pops's Cinema Paradiso for Christmas and I had a blast.

We'd both worked overnight on Saturday night so we were a tad tired, but for me at least the prospect of some John Williams music cranked out by an orchestra was a buzz waiting to happen. I wasn't dissapointed on that score, either... most of the second half was Williams, which is hardly surprising. If you're talking cinema scores for orchestras he's just about the most successful in history.

For the uninitiated, Williams has composed Jaws, Star Wars and everything in between. Name a Spielberg or Lucas film and he's your man. ET, Raiders, 1941, Close Encounters. Okay fan boy... settle down :)

The tickets were amazing; in the middle of the front row of the stalls, so we were literally looking up their skirts. Clive James was the host, which I wasn't expecting. He was great, but looking up his metaphorical skirt was far less enjoyable than the violinist two back in the second row :) (Don't worry, C had her favourite too!)

James was a little slow getting started. For the first little bit I thought he was going to be phoning it in all night, but by the time they played Superman for an encore he had one arm extended over his head (classic flying pose, if that description doesn't make sense), running around the stage, having a little mock collapse Kryptonite style and pretending to carry Lois over the city. A few frank admissions regarding why he liked Janet Leigh movies, a cracker of an orchestra goes without saying and all up an entertaining show.

Afterward we went out for dinner and ended up getting a hotel room in the city for the night. Which is not something we do very often. It's just that for the first time in a little while the money was there to do it and it just seemed like a good idea at the time. By the way, if you're looking for a vegetarian meal I wouldn't recommend a "ye olde englishe tavern" type venue. Their definition of vego was offal, as far as I can tell, but they came up with something and it was nice enough.

So, all up a pretty good night was had by all. Also, please don't take the above comment about money as gripeing or a lack of gratitude for my life of relative luxury. We do okay between us and we both have good prospects. It's just that there have been a lot of bills the last year or two, which will gradually become self explanatory, I guess.


* I haven't decided yet but for now 'C' will be code for my girl, fiancee, partner, gf, live-in lover, de facto wife. Pick the term which best suits your preference... I'll stick to 'C' :)

Welcome...

Hiya All...

I haven't the faintest clue what this is going to turn in to as we travel along, but it just felt like the right time to write a few things down. Not even that sure why, because I've never really kept a diary of any sort before.

Anyway, I won't be giving you a whole big "tell you everything at once" starter post. Much more fun if these things come out gradually. All I'll say is that some of the subject areas you're likely to encounter are impending marriage, infertility, pet ownership, parliamentary politics and, well, probably a lot of nonsense and a few jokes.