Mark and I celebrate our wedding anniversary on the
25th of October, which will be 8 years this year. When Mark proposed we knew we didn’t want a
long engagement and the church I wanted to get married at had only 2 dates
available, so we took the first. A year
later we celebrated our wedding on a beautiful autumn day.
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| getting ready with my bridesmaids |
Being the swot that I am I love autumn, cosy
jumpers, boots, hot chocolate swirly leaves, perfect sunlight and the start of
a new academic term. We got married 4
weeks after I started my Librarianship training which was (in hindsight)
totally crazy. I was overwhelmed by the
amount of things that I needed to do and plan, but on the day I was happy and I
passed my course in the end….so all’s well that ends well! I’d just very strongly recommend that people
shouldn’t do this.
The first year after we were married we went to my bridesmaids’
baby’s Christening near Loch Eribol, in northern Scotland. We were surrounded my stunning scenery and
had a fantastic time up there so although the day wasn’t for us, we certainly
made use of being away from home. (a very sold grade of B)
The next few years were less fancy and spent our
anniversary apart as Mark always had a big conference to attend in Australia
meaning I spent the day at home……..alone………..not even able to speak with Mark
at a convenient time due to time differences.
(D-)
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| bedroom |
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| our barn |
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| the pool |
However, two years ago Mark excelled himself and
researched and booked for us to stay at the gorgeous Aloun (which sounds like Doric for a boy!) Barn in the Malihom private resort in Penang,
and we spent the 24th exploring George Town…promptly before both
coming down with food poisoning from a café and spending the day laying on the
cool floor trying not to be sick. (C-)
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| a spot of afternoon tea in the drawing room |
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| looking out at the dam |
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| my pheasant love continues |
Last year I took the reins (because buying and
moving house for a fourth time in a year isn’t enough) and booked us into the
Lake Vyrnwy Hotel in Wales. We happily
spent the weekend exploring the dam, hills and the cafes that surrounded it and
I was pretty sure I held the title for best anniversary trip planner ever. (a very solid A)
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| our view from the room |
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| I wanna see the sheep! |
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| Out adventuring |
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| ahem....another spot of tea |
Now we can all agree I’m doing pretty well
here. Technically it was my idea to go
to Eribol and it certainly was my idea to go to Vyrnwy, so if I’m given the
option, I blow anniversary trips out of the water. I’m kind of a big deal. (We’re conveniently ignoring the year we had
to have a family meal and I drunkenly ‘hijacked’ a steam roller…..) Anyway, I was pretty much undefeated until
Mark announced that he’d booked tickets for the Harry Potter studios in north
London.
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| hard evidence that the move to Singapore was causing stress |
Harry.
Potter. Studio. Tour.
Let me just say I’m excited. I'm
as excited as a Hufflepuff can get. I'm
excited because I loved (and continue to love) the films. I’d buy my books at midnight when they came
out and spent too many hours in college on Pottermore instead of revising. I now have a list of merchandise I need to
buy and I know exactly when I’m going to have my butterbeer. I can now say I’m happy to admit defeat and
can pre-grade this anniversary as A+.
