Una Boda En España

When we heard that my brother's daughter Lisa was getting married we were delighted; her boyfriend Brad is a charming young man and they make a lovely couple. When we discovered that the wedding was being held in Spain, I can't deny that I went into Victor Meldrew mode. Spain is far from my favourite country, after all the travelling we've done in the past twelve months, a 2,500 mile round trip to the Costa Del Sol was the last thing we needed and it was going to blow a considerable hole in the holiday budget. But I've only got one brother and he's only got one daughter so I realised that my cries of "I don't believe it" were a bit curmudgeonly and got down to planning the journey.

We headed to Gatwick on Thursday and stayed at a guest house that throws in parking for a small fee and drops you off at departures at no extra charge. 

On Friday we were in Spain staying in an apartment that my sister Julie found for us on the internet.

It was a well appointed self catering unit although the decor might not be to everybody's taste.

We arrived in Spain in time to meet up with my mum and my sister and niece Vicky and have a quick visit to Estepona in the afternoon.

And Puerto De La Duquesa in the evening.

We haven't seen Mum for a few months but she's doing extremely well for 87 and having great fun with her new iPad.

It was the big day on Saturday and we all headed to a hacienda in the hills for the outdoor ceremony beneath a cloudless sky with the Mediterranean shimmering in the background. It was a simple service followed by an excellent dinner al fresco accompanied by champagne and fine wines.

My brother Pete gave a touching father of the bride speech that had the audience reaching for their tissues and the guests were entertained by a live band and a disco that went on into the early hours.

We met Pete's granddaughter Emmy for the first time.

And Pete's wife Val had a wonderful day as Mother Of The Bride.

Marion looked stunning in her dress for the wedding and I was glad to have the opportunity to buy myself some new trousers and a shirt for the occasion.

An early evening flight on Sunday gave us the chance to have lunch at the old town of Casares in the hills overlooking the Costa Del Sol before heading to the airport and arriving home in Framlingham an hour after midnight.

It was a great weekend. It was good to catch up with Julie, Vicky and Mum and to see Pete and his family. I think it was the first time that we've all been together since Mum turned eighty.

The Man From The Architects He Say Yes

Our planned relocation took a step closer to becoming reality today when the architect we instructed phoned to say that all our proposed plans for the property in Suffolk were feasible. Marion and I, heavily influenced by Kirsty Allsopp, looked at the property with a view to what could be done with it rather than what it's like now. I'm quite excited by the plans as they involve removing three walls, fitting two new bathrooms and a new kitchen and doing some very interesting stuff to bring more light into the property with glass doors that wrap around a corner making a big feature of the lounge. The next stage is for a survey to be carried out and, if the surveyor gives us the nod, get the ball rolling with the conveyancing.

After the hectic activity of the last couple of weeks we're going to have a bit of a rest and are heading up to St Andrews to see Sarah, Duncan and Rose. As a foretaste to our long distance building project in Suffolk, we arranged to have some decking built around the caravan in February but the joiners now want to fit it while we are there next week; what's that they say about the best laid plans? It's going to be great to see our granddaughter for the first time in six weeks. I wonder how much she will have changed.


The caravan may turn out to be a Godsend if the sale of our own house goes through before the work in Suffolk is finished. At least we'll have a roof over our heads - then we'll be project managing at 469 miles instead of 260 miles. Some might doubt our sanity at buying a house and knocking it about so much when we could buy a brand new house for less but the beauty of doing this is that we will have exactly what we want rather than compromising. Some of the new houses we viewed had badly planned layouts and pretty poor quality fittings.

It was a big day for our nephew Chris (pictured here (2nd right) almost thirty years ago ) today. He and his lovely wife Becky are celebrating the arrival of a daughter, their first child (tentatively Emmy) this morning - congratulations to them. We are delighted that everything went well and look forward to seeing the new addition to the family soon.

Of course this means that my brother Peter - forever a Peter Pan at heart - now has the soubriquet Granddad and, there's no escaping it Pete, that means you are now officially old.

A big thank you to our friends David and Janet Wareing who treated us to a wonderful lunch at The Hand in Llanarmon near Llangollen yesterday. It's a great pub with open fires, excellent food and friendly service and it's highly recommended. I saw that they also do B&B at very reasonable rates and I imagine that a short break with such good food and in such beautiful countryside would make a fabulous escape.