Weekend part #1

This past weekend Arthur and I went on an adventure. We have decided that we need to take a small weekend trip about once a month. This past weekend a friend named Katherine had her 30th birthday party in Norwich. Since it is so close to Arthur parents, we left Friday and drove to Blakeney. We did arrive till about 9 had dinner and fell asleep. The next morning we woke up and went out for a run. We did some wedding planning and finalized our reading and reduced the list of hymns. Then we made lunch and got to eat it on the back garden. I love blue skys!

Saturday night we drove to out for the party in Norwich. It was a blast getting to hang out with Steve and Anthea and they have the most beautiful home. Unfortunately i didn't take any picutres of their house. Saturday night was filled with a few drinks, a bit of dancing, and a great time!

Here are two pictures, one of Arthur and me. The other is Arthur with his childhood friends. I think that they might get in to some trouble.

Speeches at the wedding

While reading about toast at a wedding I came across the following guide of wedding speeches for the UK.


The Toasts

Once the champagne or chosen drink has been served the Toastmaster will introduce the speakers who will be proposing the traditional toasts, of which there are usually three:
- This first toast is to the Bride & Groom and will normally be proposed by the father of the bride or an old friend of the family.
- The second toast is proposed by the groom who, after thanking the bride's father and making his speech, will conclude by proposing the health of the bridesmaids.
- The third toast is proposed by the best man who will respond on behalf of the bridesmaids and conclude by proposing the health of the parents of the bride and groom.

I'm not sure wedding toasts follow this format as much in the current day. In previous generation the man was the head of the house, but I have to say the UK tradition baffled me. The grooms thanks the brides father then toasts to the health of the bridesmaids then the best man responds for them. One, I would think the groom thanks everyone, not just the brides dad... then toasts to the bridesmaid. Two, I love my bridesmaids, but feel the groomsmen /ushers are getting a bit of a short stick why do we not toast to their health as well. Third, after toasting to the bridesmaids the best man responds for them... not sure that would fly with some of the woman's rights groups. I did find this very interesting and thought I would share it with all of you!

P.S. As I am not a huge fan of making speeches I have no problem following tradition and giving Arthur the opportunity to give a wonderful speech :).

Mountain Biking in Langsett

This past weekend the weather was finally nice enough to mountain biking again. It quickly became one of our favorite weekend activities, last fall. I have been looking forward to the weather getting nice enough for us to enjoy this activity again. In anticipation for nice weather we bought a new book showing rides in the Dark Peak region, near Sheffield.

The ride we selected in near a town of Langsett. There was a beautiful reservoir on the ride. We stared on a easy road work that lead to a path with a gentle slops. We were supposed to turn off the main path and add an additional loop. This section was SUPER muddy. After not being able to get any traction I told Arthur to go ahead and I would take the short cut on a path with a LOT let mud and I would bike toward him on the other side of the short cut. This was the best decision! Arthur had to basically walk 1k, because the mud was so bad. The path I took was perfect… the ground was a little tacky but not really muddy and it was a very well maintained trail. I then met up with him and we road back on the best past. After the first loop, Arthur went out for a second loop cutting out the muddy section… I went for a walk around the reservoir, so he wouldn’t have to wait for me to keep up.

The first picture is Arthur coming down towards the reservoir.

This is the reservoir.

Another (this was from my walk)

And Arthur riding away while I am still taking photos...

Because we both have bright yellow biking jackets I could spot him a mile a way and took several pictures him biking up the hill towards me.

He is cranking it up the hill! I am sure I make it look a lot more difficult!