Megan's Wedding
25 July

Well, it all passed off very well.

The weather was mostly kind, the bride looked radiant, the service was heart-felt and unrushed, the food was good if a little late in the day for my personal tastes and the evening entertainment was enjoyable. Being a back seat passenger, it was much less stressful than my sister's wedding.

Ross looked particularly good in his morning suit as an usher.

In fact, he and Sam looked very well together along with the bride.

Most of the eternal verities of weddings were followed.

1. a child cried during the service
2. the Best Man's speech was hilariously bawdy and embarrassing
3. there was at least one major row between two of the guests during the evening
4. someone (the usher third from the right below) got a shag out of the event

The only lapse, as far as I know, was that no-one was sick into the rose bushes.

One very heart-warming aspect of the whole occasion was the card which Ross's mum wrote for my Rossi and I. Most of the text is personal to him and so I won't quote it here but there was a passage which concerns me and which brought a lump to the throat.

We have come through (troubled times) now and I think that much of it is due to you, David. You are a wonderful friend to Ross but also Trevor and I and we count on you as a member of the family.

Sunday, Ross showed me around Barton a little and then we attended a family barbeque where I got to meet some more of Ross's family, in particular to cousins Andrew and David, the latter falling into my fantasy category of over-confident puppy who I would like to shag into submission.

It was strange being in among so many people who were related. My own upbringing was much more curtailed on this front with cousins in Canada and only one older cousin living in this country. I've never know what it is to have an extended family with others of my own age around.

Somewhere during the weekend, Ross finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I took over. I liked it much better than Book Five. I was right about my assumptions about who would die and who would turn out to be the Half-Blood Prince. However, for most of the book, I veered towards another of my candidates for the death and in circumstances which would have been more traumatic than those which J K Rowling actually chose. So, I was maybe less upset than many by the final result. Still three stars.

Anyhow, the plot is now set up for the final book. Harry must find four magical objects and then face his nemesis. And then we must find out what is really going on with Snape. I think that we are still in for a shock. I think that, in the final tableau, Snape will die trying to protect Harry. It will be revealed that, although he hated Harry's father James, he loved his mother Lily and it was this love which persuaded Dumbledore to trust the Potions Master despite his Death-Eater background. Finally, Harry will nearly sacrifice himself, protecting either Ginny or Hermione, but will be protected by love and so overcome Voldemort.

Bless.