An Oasis of beauty
In all the horrible stuff of the past few days which continue - I had to switch off the radio again on the way to work this morning as whilst I do care about the issues relating to the riots I have recognise my own limits on this stuff so Rodrigo y Gabriela Live in Paris went on the CD player... much more nourishing for my soul. (Reminds me I owe the readers of this august blog a whole bunch of CD reviews). So that was the first thing but more majorly I went to a wedding yesterday and it was lovely in all kinds of way.
Firstly the wedding was an old friend of ours, a second marriage for both parties both with families from the previous one. The great spirit in which you could see these two families joining as one was fantastic. The love between the bride and groom was palpable throughout the day. The setting was fantastic, a lovely country hotel just outside Bristol in the South Gloustershire countryside, the weather was gorgeous. Sadly earlier this year my friends mother passed away and there was a great poignancy to part of the day that she wasn't there - that took my back to 1985 when my wife and I married, in a similar setting, country hotel setting for the reception etc. My Dad sadly had died in the October the year before and there was a great feeling of someone not being there that should have been but knowing in spirit he was.
As we slogged back up the M4, M25 etc. last night I was thinking that that is what life is all about. The ups and downs of it, the set backs and the leaps forward but in all yesterday was totally about love. The grooms two sons in their early 20s did a joint speech at the reception which reflected their Dad's character in great comic style but with such love.
Sorry to go all sloppy on here but I really did feel overwhelmed with it all yesterday and did feel that too often the bad and the ugly is the emphasis in daily life rather than the good and the love. Silly little aside postscript to exemplify what I mean, England have trounced the Indians in the test series and rightly are now at the head of the Test rankings table - we won the 20:20 world cup (shortest form of the game) and are now kingpins in the longest form as well. Already within a day or so the English media is saying "how can England stay on top?" - see negative instantly it isn't pressworthy if it isn't. It can be demoralising - I think I should turn the radio off more, listen to more music more and look for the positivity in the world not the negativity. I think it is fantastic England are the top of the test table - bring on the last Indian test (at the Oval in London this coming Thursday through to next Monday), let us hope it is another game England win in emphatic style inside 4 days like the last two.
Firstly the wedding was an old friend of ours, a second marriage for both parties both with families from the previous one. The great spirit in which you could see these two families joining as one was fantastic. The love between the bride and groom was palpable throughout the day. The setting was fantastic, a lovely country hotel just outside Bristol in the South Gloustershire countryside, the weather was gorgeous. Sadly earlier this year my friends mother passed away and there was a great poignancy to part of the day that she wasn't there - that took my back to 1985 when my wife and I married, in a similar setting, country hotel setting for the reception etc. My Dad sadly had died in the October the year before and there was a great feeling of someone not being there that should have been but knowing in spirit he was.
As we slogged back up the M4, M25 etc. last night I was thinking that that is what life is all about. The ups and downs of it, the set backs and the leaps forward but in all yesterday was totally about love. The grooms two sons in their early 20s did a joint speech at the reception which reflected their Dad's character in great comic style but with such love.
Sorry to go all sloppy on here but I really did feel overwhelmed with it all yesterday and did feel that too often the bad and the ugly is the emphasis in daily life rather than the good and the love. Silly little aside postscript to exemplify what I mean, England have trounced the Indians in the test series and rightly are now at the head of the Test rankings table - we won the 20:20 world cup (shortest form of the game) and are now kingpins in the longest form as well. Already within a day or so the English media is saying "how can England stay on top?" - see negative instantly it isn't pressworthy if it isn't. It can be demoralising - I think I should turn the radio off more, listen to more music more and look for the positivity in the world not the negativity. I think it is fantastic England are the top of the test table - bring on the last Indian test (at the Oval in London this coming Thursday through to next Monday), let us hope it is another game England win in emphatic style inside 4 days like the last two.
Hear, hear. Glad you had a lovely weekend. :-) P
ReplyDeleteAnd Wales beat England! How good can a weekend be?!
ReplyDelete@liz - yes well... you just shouldn't play rugby in August it is cricket season that is the problem there... minor hiccup on our route to world domination later in the year... I think I may be sadly disappointed again with the world cup :-(
ReplyDeleteSounds an uplifting way to spend a weekend, just the tonic needed right now, in light of the recent events. Life goes on, and most of it is still pretty good, eh?
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