Me, my sister and my mum in London
My little sister (yes, she is taller than me!) is getting married in August, so she arranged a weekend in London so that mum and me and her two best friends (Nat and Fiona) could get to know each other before the wedding. I hesitate to use the term 'Hen weekend', because this conjours up images of raucous young women in mini-skirts staggering drunkenly between night clubs at 2am, and that is SO not what this weekend was! However, for want of a better term, this was Elaine's Hen weekend.
I travelled down to London early on Saturday morning and met up with my mum. We had a lovely lunch together and then went hunting for a bridesmaid's dress (I will be Matron of Honour at Elaine's wedding). Elaine had ordered a dress from America, but the company messed up the order and it looked like Cinderella might not make it to the ball. Thankfully mum and I found an off-the-peg dress in a department store that fit me perfectly and was the right colour to fit in with Elaine's colour scheme. Phew!
Elaine and her friends met up with us outside said department store and then we headed off to the hotel to dump our bags. Now this is where things started to go wrong! My sister had booked us all on the 'Jack the Ripper' tour of London, which sounded like fun. It started at 5.40pm, so we were getting tight for time. We got on the Tube out to our hotel, but the train terminated a stop early due to goodness knows what going on in the Underground that day. The long and short of it is that thanks to this, the resulting long walk and an inattentive hotel receptionist calling a taxi for four instead of a taxi for five, we missed the tour. I was so disappointed for Elaine, who was really looking forward to the tour. We managed not to let it spoil our evening though. We took a cruise down the Thames and had a lovely meal and actually got to know her friends quite well because we were able to talk a lot. Rather amusingly, because we were all tired from travelling and walking round London, Elaine's Hen night culminated in us all heading to bed at about 10.30pm! Not your typical Hen do!
The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and said goodbye to Nat, who was flying back to Aberdeen. We then went back to Oxford street and met up with Fiona again. We spent a happy hour in Borders, my favourite store on Oxford street. It's a fantastically huge bookstore which I was able to browse at my leisure because the Podlings weren't there getting bored! After I bought many books from here (can you ever have too many books?!), we went to my station and sat drinking coffee and chatting until it was time for me to leave (mum and Elaine's train left later). I am so glad I got to meet Elaine's friends before the wedding. They are both such lovely people and I will be glad to meet them again.
I really had such a lovely weekend. I see my mum so infrequently and my sister even less. It isn't often that we are all together at the same time, so this weekend was very special. Now the weird part of this weekend, for me, was that I spent it away from Tom and Lily. Mark's mum and dad came to stay at our house for the weekend to help Mark look after the Podlings, so I could go and spend some time with my mum and sister. I rarely go anywhere without the Podlings, so it was very strange to be away from them, even for one night. I knew I was leaving them in good hands, but I was a bit worried they'd be upset that I wasn't there. I needn't have worried as they had a fantastic weekend playing in the garden, going to the park and going to the swimming pool. I'm certain I missed them more than they missed me!
Thanks, Elaine, for organising such a special weekend. I can't wait to see you in all your bridal splendour on August 12th! It will be such a special day. Last, but not least, CONGRATULATIONS on obtaining your 2:1 Honours degree from Aberdeen University...I'm so proud of you!
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