Recent Adventures - a Wedding, Paris & my Son's Case

 
Since my last blog I've been busy for a while: I went with my husband D. (pictured, with me) to our late daughter's friend's wedding, and we had an enjoyable day trip to Paris by 'Eurostar'. I have also been busy keeping up with my son Tom's upcoming court case, and preparing a big lecture on murder profiling, that I did earlier this week. Also I have been to art therapy once a week. In the photo (taken in late April 2006), I am on the left, with a glass of red wine, and D. (right) looks a bit older than his years. He is coming up for 65 in June. He says he looks here as if he had had one or two drinks (which was true - but he had to watch it). We were at the reception for E.'s wedding in Wokingham. E. is a lovely young woman who had known my late daughter Alice since they were only 2-3 years old, and went to playschool together. They were later together at infant and junior primary school, and in the Brownies, Guides, local ballet class and church choir. After that they kept closely in touch, while at secondary school and university. E used to stay with us during the school holidays, by the River Thames. She trained as an Anglican (woman) priest, while Alice studied rocks and became a geologist. She is now a C. of E. curate.

If Alice were alive today, E. would have asked her to be one of her 6 bridesmaids. E. is going to send me a specially designed real silver leaf brooch, that all the other bridesmaids had made for the wedding. it was good to go there and meet E's family again - her parents (sadly now divorced, and whom we both knew well) and her slighty younger sister S., who has two small children - her little girl was also a rather shy bridesmaid. The wedding, a true Church of England occasion, was conducted by about 6 priests, including the Bishop of Reading! E's husband K. is also a priest; the wedding took place in "his" church - with lots of incense (a bit "high church"). D. and I did not know anyone except E's family, but the people we met there were very friendly. There was a "fun" party afterwards, with disco. The food was wonderful; everyone was asked to bring a contribution, in true village church fashion. I took 3 good shop cheesecakes. Some of the other food was mouth wateringly tasty. D. had not felt too well beforehand (nerves?), but he forgot that once we were there, especially when we saw the lovely food, had a drink, heard the speeches and started dancing. We got home just after 10 pm.

The following week we had another even more daunting outing - but it was great. I had arranged for me and D. to go on the Eurostar Channel Tunnel fast train to Paris - postponed from February, when we would have gone with Tom. But Tom got into trouble then through his heavy drinking, so I transferred our tickets to May. Tom's ticket had to be cancelled. (He would have been at the wedding too, as he also knew E. from childhood.) I'd never been on the Eurostar, though I've been to Paris about 5 times in my life (last time in 2001), and speak French well. That was something new for me! We had to get up at 5.30 am in order to get our connections in London (this was a struggle for us both) - then arrived in Paris about 11 am. This gave us several hours there. We got Metro tickets and ran about Paris to locations in the central district, the "Ile de la Cite" (sorry - I can't put in the accents needed here, on my PC). Most people were helpful - a woman on the Metro gave me her tube map!

We had a superb day. First off we went around Notre Dame Cathedral, outside and in. I'd never been inside it. I tood digital photographs, which complemented those I took last time, when it rained. This time it was glorious sunshine! From there we wandered down to the River Seine, and went on a river boat - a smaller version of the Bateaux Mouches. I did that last time I was there. It's good, as the boat goes under all Paris' 24(?) bridges, and the commentary explains in our own language what we are seeing, plus some history. I knew some of it from before. Much is connected with the French Revolution and Napoleon (and some is mediaeval). After that we tried to get into two famous art galleries (with Impressionist paintings): the Quai D'Orsay had too long queues, and the Orangerie was closed - is it ever open? We did not bother with the Louvre, as it's too big to cover in only one day. We just sat and wandered in the Tuileries gardens, ate a delicious ice cream each, then strolled back to the Latin Quarter or Left Bank, where I persuaded D. to explore the narrow, old streets and find a restaurant. There are many small "creperies"; we found one that looked Algerian (as several are). We ate crepes, with vin rose, and ice-cream confections. I had a Turkish style coffee. Then after a final wander round the Flower Market, we headed back via the Metro to the Gare du Nord, for Eurostar. We bought some cheeses, chocolates and a bottle of French wine at the station shop, to take home. On the way back, we dozed or read - not so much to see. We were home before midnight; both cats were safely indoors, waiting for us. (Our neighbour had kindly checked the cats had food, and put our lights on).

There is no time now, or enough space here to go into Tom's case; it is still on hold. He is in prison, awaiting a hearing on his bail charge. It was postponed from April 21st, due to a glitch in the system. He should be seen by a psychiatrist while in prison, but still has not yet. We think there will be a court decision about him on June 5th though, as he should not be in jail for too long: he has already served enough "time" for his original offence. He is quite well spiritually, and doing OK.

So that's all for now. It is good to be back (I have been visiting another website too, putting my biography together). Have a good summer - keep well and take care!
Love and peace, Tigey.