A summer of weddings and

The school holidays have now started here in the UK and it shows.  The crowds in central London today are far bigger.  Parliament  Square and Whitehall were a scrum of people with selfie sticks and maps.  I am not quite sure of the logic of using a selfie-stick for every photo, maybe its an age thing. I was recently in Amsterdam and watched, aghast, as 4 American girls took their photo, grinning outside Anne Frank's house. No doubt their tour of Europe included grinning selfies at Belsen or topless shots on the D Day beaches. Some people are idiots. 

So summer is in full flow though it feels like Summer arrived in late May, fell flat, got up again in late June and has stopped and started since then. For me, summer is still the 6 weeks school holiday, especially as my nieces and nephews are now on holiday, my sisters and my parents will be stressed out and my teacher friends will be happy and less stressed.  

Here is my song of the summer (Song of July) so far:

I've been to one wedding this summer, on July 4th, and on August 29th I will attend another, the wedding of someone I've known since 1984 and I cannot wait.  The wedding on July 4th was the wedding of an American friend, Shaun, and his Indian  boyfriend, Sushil. It was only the 2nd same-sex wedding I've been to in 10 years and it was a lovely day.  The guests ranged in age, sexuality and nationality, starting with the grooms, American and Indian, I chatted to Americans, Germans, Swedes, Hungarians, Spaniards and a sprinkle of others.  Everything was perfect about the day, even my hangover had a tinge of "this isn't so bad" about it.  Every wedding has to have at least one person giggling like a naughty child at the back, that was me and a partner in crime (a colleague of Shaun's called Kate). We giggled at everything and even came up with a secret code to identify if men were gay or straight to avoid any embarrassing flirtatious faux-pas's. One of the noticeable differences between this wedding and the last same-sex/gay wedding I'd attended was the attendance of family.  This wedding had the Dad, Sisters and cousins as it should and even those family members who couldn't be there, made their presence felt in some way, as a wedding should be!

Here are a few photos of the day (I didn't take as many as I planned due to the mix of champagne, prosecco and beer) and the final photo was not taken by me! 

The grooms - Shaun & Sushil

This time last year I was sunning myself in Barcelona, working part-time and going to the beach or pool almost every day, London life is very different.  There is no beach and outdoor pools are few and far between and those that exist are overpriced and overcrowded. London would be a more marvellous place if it had beaches. 

I've now been in my new job for 3 weeks and it is going well apart from the fact they now think I am a geek/nerd due to my Star Trek/Star Wars references and my fascination with ships.  I've caused a few giggles when talking about my upcoming Baltic cruise between Sweden and Finland and my detailed knowledge of the ships. I am 45, I don't care!

Here are the 2 ships I am travelling on in September.  Silja Galaxy and Silja Symphony with 2 days in Stockholm (included a visit to the Abba Museum) and 1 day in Helsinki. I am very excited!

And the next wedding is 6 weeks away and I hope it is as much fun as the last one!

July 19 2015