Early February saw us back in Meribel for a week sliding around on bits of laminated plastic. We are nowhere near as bad as I make out, so let's just come out and call it skiing. There is no proof of course, because each year we return with a few pictures on a ski lift or standing in a line half-way down the 'golf'.
The 2017 version of half-way down the golf - me, Molly, Sara, Elly and Lucy. Brother Paul behind the camera. On the way for coffee probably.
No sooner have we serviced the skis, we are then flat-out making final arrangement for a wedding - OURS ! Molly had finally given in ...
We decided to have a quiet wedding and avoid the big-ceremony thing on the basis that we had both been there before. Different things become important as you get older. We arranged to get married at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells on June 11th at 11:00.
We had decided that Logan, our eldest Grandson aged five, could perform the Best Man duties - all we had to work out was how we could make sure he didn't lose the rings. We need not have worried as, unknown to us, he had a plan. The rings went into his right pocket in a draw string bag but when he was asked for them, he pulled out two Haribo rings from his left pocket. The straight-face was held right up to the point when the picture was taken and everyone fell about laughing. Great timing and delivery young man ... :-)
We then traveled to Horsted Place for (more) photographs, drinks and lunch. The guys at Horsted couldn't have done any more for us either and we had a fabulous afternoon.
Garry, Ellena, Grant, Jemma, Molly, Kailah, me, Logan, Chris, Max, Toni, Alexis, Simon, Sharon and Leonie getting jaw-ache on the lawn.
Molly had decided that it would be a good idea to get married on my birthday so I shouldn't forget the anniversary in the future. It's a sound plan, but it meant that, along with the wedding celebration I had a bucket-load of presents to open too. June was turning out to be mostly about me.
It was an unforgettable day and we have some treasured memories.
To compensate for the quiet wedding we thought we would have a loud celebration. We had arranged to have the party in a wood on the side of a hill but had to wait until after the first cut of silage to get access ! This had happened by the end of week three in June for nine out of the last ten years, so we decided to go for the longest weekend, June 24th, and hope for the best.
Molly and I spent a few days at the site. Preparing the camping areas, getting the signs in and sorting out the recycling arrangemtnts and portaloos ! Then we were in the wood - firstly, with the brush cutter clearing the last year's growth and then wheel-barrowing and spreading a ton and half of bark chippings. At the end of day three we were knackered but the blank canvas was ready. The view from the disco shack ...
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In went the tent, the mobile bar, a million lights, straw bales for seating and the dance floor. Sharon, Laura, Molly and Leonie putting final touches to the decorations with Simon, Brendan and Will sorting the drinking facilities in the background.
I collected the generator and had a dry-run with the lights and music system and we are almost ready.
Catering was provided by spit-roasting a pig and a hoggit, slowly cooked over two fire pits dug into the adjacent field.
We were so close to having a smooth run-in but the weather reminded us that we were in the lap of the gods with this event and the wind got up right at the last moment. One tent went down the field and the other tipped over into the wood and, when we pulled it back, it toppled over onto the van. It looked like we had one extra job to do on the day of the celebration ... once we had located enough ground anchors to tie the tents down.
Despite last-minute jobs, another great day followed in our charmed life and we had a fabulous time with lots of great friends, but were too busy to take many photographs.
Molly, Jemma, Matt, Louise and I finally turned off the music, stopped the generator and returned to our tents at 03:00.
A great day with Golden Eagles, African burrowing owl, Kestrel, Peregrine, Gyrfalcon, Harris Hawk (above), Barn Owl and the most amazing marmalade Tawny owl - a natural colour variation that is quite rare.
My time was coming to a close, thankfully for everyone else, and the 60th birthday celebrations abated by the middle of July. They lasted a full month. I am so grateful to everyone for their kind thoughts and presents and, especially to Molly, for being there to film most of it :-)
September brought another milestone as Molly celebrated her xx th birthday. I surprised her with a keeper day at Howletts in the big cat section and duly dropped her off with a packed lunch first-thing. I had the morning to myself to wander round the zoo and bumped into Molly inside the Wolves enclosure cleaning the windows with the animals standing in the trees watching her ! We then met for lunch and I accompanied her to feed the animals armed with the camera.
It was brilliant getting so close to these magnificent animals and Molly was like a kid in a sweet shop. Snow Leopard's are a particular favourite.
Molly was up close and personal with the Lions, Leopard, Clouded Leopard, the Pallas cats and the elusive Fishing Cat - seen for the first time despite many trips to this particular wildlife park.
The grand finale was perhaps the most magnificent of the big cats ...
A big male Siberian tiger, ever so gently, nibbling raw antelope from Molly's tweezers !
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Actually I lied - my birthday treats didn't finish in July I had one more to enjoy. Having failed to get tickets for the 2017 Steely Dan tour I was running out of time to see my favourite band. Imagine my joy when one of my presents - opened at the wedding lunch - were tickets to see them with the Doobies in support. Molly didn't mind giving this a miss and I took Jemma. Wow, simply wow - there are insufficient superlatives for the founders of modern music. I'll move on because most of you do not understand.
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We got round to a honeymoon (of sorts) in later November. We visited Cape Verde for an eleven day, feet-up, all inclusive type of holiday. We went to yoga first-thing most days before over indulging on everything - sun, sea, sand, gin, food and reading. We took the diving gear but after seeing the dive boat anchor in the same spot for three days on the trot we decided to give it a miss. We had a good break, but it wasn't really a honeymoon. Perhaps we'll do that next year ...
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