On this day in 1988 I woke up with a slight hangover. Actually a fair old sore head. I had made the mistake of staying up late in the Thornton Hall Hotel bar drinking Stella with Uncle Mick. 19th August 1988 was the day of our wedding. I went for a walk in the morning to clear my head. It was raining but as we drew nearer the time of the ceremony the sun came out and fine weather stayed with us for the rest of the day.
We moved to the Ship Hotel in Parkgate for the night of the wedding. I drove. Didn’t touch a drop after the speeches and toasts. Was high enough on the experience of getting married.
The Head Gardener wasn’t known as THG in those days. She was a Webster. In fact I don’t think we even had a garden at our mid terrace house in Greetwell Gate in Lincoln. Just a back yard with, believe it or not, a small pig sty. The deeds of the house stated that we were allowed to keep a pig, just as they kept a pig at my dad’s home in Blaenhirwaun in West Wales.
We never did keep a pig. It was a lot easier to buy bacon etc from the butcher. In fact the pigsty was demolished to make way for a barbecue area which was much used in those party filled pre children days.
So this morning at around six twenty I made it downstairs, with a clear head, and took up a pot of tea to my wife of thirty six years. Thirty six! How can such a thing be possible ? 🙂 The amazing thing about THG is that she grows lovelier with every year that goes by. I am a lucky bloke.
Now being married to THG is not without its downsides. She regularly leaves me a jobslist but I figure this comes with the territory of married life and is a small price to pay. Obviously a jobslist needs to be stared at for a suitable length of time before attempting any of the tasks. The successful completion of a job is down to 95% planning and 5% execution. Everyone knows this. Sometimes even more planning than that.
We have nothing in particular planned for our wedding anniversary. A nice quiet night watching University Challenge at which THG excels. She has a bit of fish for supper and I have some lamb chops. Chuck in a bit of salad and some sweetcorn blackened on the bbq and we have a feast.
The milkman came at 03:47. Mostly always the same guy. Does he ever take a holiday? Maybe he coordinates it so that he is away at the same time as us. That must be it.