Pilot, Wife
and Expat life
what goes up, must come down

Sunday 17 July 2011

The Three F's

Once again, time has had it's own ideas about how fast to run and I increasingly feel like I am merely along for the ride! What a ride though, some tears and tantrums, some arguments but mostly just a lot of fun.

The wedding we went to was fabulous, I was definitely on the "naughty table" and was no where near as lonely as I thought I was going to be. There was quite a long wait between the service and the wedding breakfast and the free champagne was going down a treat, however with very little food in my stomach it wasn't long before I became a little silly. S was nervously waiting to do his speech and hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, he had to wait until 8:30 pm before it was his time to talk. The speech went really well and I was very proud of him, all of his friends who were on the "naughty table" with me thought it was great too so he didn't even get too much heckling!

Having recovered, it was time to head down the coast to my parents for a while. We had a couple of appointments to look at accommodation in preparation for our own wedding and in the course of chatting to hotels and B&B's made a rather annoying discovery. The weekend that S and I had chosen for our wedding is a DOUBLE bank holiday. Due to the Queen's Jubilee you get the Monday and the Tuesday off. Unfortunately because of this, most of the hotels want you to book at least 2 nights accommodation. Not what we had in mind.
So, having come up against some other problems, like bank holiday traffic, unhelpful hotels and uninterested caterers.. we had a change of heart. Yes, we are still getting married.. not that kind of change! We have decided to have a marquee on the lawn at my parent's house. In talking about it, it was obvious to see that everyone had ben stressed and worried about our original plans, with the new idea the excitement level was once again restored. It puts us back to the beginning but I would rather that than struggling on with a second rate idea.

At the weekend two of my bridesmaids came dress shopping with me, they must have tried on at least 25 dresses each and looked exhausted by the end! They were great fun to have around and it made me realise how much I miss having good friends nearby. I had got used to my own company in Scandinavia and it was nice to have some girly fun. We went to watch "Bridesmaids" at the cinema and it is hilarious. Totally inappropriate but very very funny. Even the guys who came with us enjoyed it and it certainly had the 'female psyche' correct. I am hoping that my bridesmaids will behave themselves and that we won't have any cat fights behind the scenes. I can't see it happening but I'm not going to jinx myself now!!

S and I are still getting everything sorted before our move, we have been injected, x-rayed, prodded and poked and I am starting to feel a bit like a science experiment. I had an awful reaction to a Hepatitis B vaccination and still have one of those to go. I was trying on wedding dresses with my mum and suddenly got really hot, my vision blurred and I was only saved from fainting by the speed with which the lady in the shop unlaced the dress! All I could think about was a scene from "Bridesmaids" and the fact that if I had fainted I would never have lived it down!

In what little time we have left, we are trying to see as many people as possible. We have been dog-sitting for an Auntie, living between two houses and driving North just for one dinner. On the drive North to see S's dad, we couldn't help but laugh at the very obvious divide between the weather!


As I mentioned in the last blog, staying with family and friends has it's up's and down's and while we are desperately trying to please everyone, I can't help but feel we are dropping many of the balls we are juggling. I have been fairly tearful, feeling that my time is slipping through my fingers and that I should have done so many things. The other hard part is the constant company. I never thought I would want to be alone again after Scandinavia but to go from no one to someone all the time has been a pretty big shock to the system. I am used to singing to my own tune, doing things when I want to do them, and not feeling guilty if I just want to do nothing for a while. I did say that there would be a few rough edges to wear down but I didn't think that I would find it so exhausting.

S is looking at me expectantly, and I am reminded that this is his time too. So even if I want to just chill out, have a lie in or even slope off for five minutes on my own, I have to remember all those months when I wished there was someone around to talk to. With only 11 days before we leave I am going to make the most of being surrounded before we are off on our own once again. At least it will be "us" on our own and not just me this time!

Saturday 2 July 2011

It's life Jim..

Since my rather odd departure from my job, I have felt a little lost for what to do. My life for the last 10 months has been defined by various flights backwards and forwards to Sweden and it feels a little strange not to have a date in the back of my mind that I have to prepare for.

Of course, I do have two large dates to prepare for as the countdown timers on the left show! I cannot believe that this time next month we will already be in the Middle East! Its fabulous and terrifying all at the same time. I have been home from Scandinavia now for a week and a half and we have been staying at my future mother-in-law's house. It has it's trials, the biggest being that it seems to turn S into the teenage version of himself and it is difficult to live with. He is constantly stressed and frustrated by various things in the house or with his family and it is like living with an elephant with a sore head. It is more than a little draining for me, trying to keep up with his feelings and not being able to truly relax. I always find it strange in someone else's house, you feel like you should always be offering to help or jumping up to do something and there is no option to ignore what is going on around you and just veg out for the afternoon!

Whilst here we have been doing a few bits in relation to our big move, we had to sort our licences out, get medicals done and we were both due a new passport so that involved a trip to London. It was actually a really nice day out, we went for afternoon tea at Harvey Nicks, wandered around Harrods, and even managed to catch a show in the evening! S wasn't sure about seeing "Chicago" but when all the ladies came out in their skimpy underwear and stockings, he seemed to enjoy it! He spent the next day practicing the "Mr Cellophane" sway too!



Today is the wedding of the Stag and Hen I mentioned earlier and it looks like it is going to be a fabulous day. S has already gone to the Stag's house and is no doubt starting to get nervous for his speech later on. I have now heard the speech a few dozen times and have almost lost where the funny parts are, a joke repeated that many times is never funny again but I will remind myself to laugh in the appropriate places as a good partner should. It is now quite evident to me that one of the worst people to be at a wedding is the best man's other half. You have already heard the speech, you get all the stress beforehand with jobs to do and general running around and then you spend most of the wedding on your own. S is not here this morning, I won't sit with him in the Church, I won't sit with him at the wedding breakfast and the first time we will be together today is once the meal is finished. I am going to keep this in mind for our wedding, and although the best man is single at the moment, if he does find a plus one, I will be sure to remember what it is like for her. At the moment, I am sort of hoping my wedding will be a bit of a cliche in that department, after all.. the Best Man and the Maid of Honour are both single...!

Once we have recovered from the weekend S and I are off to stay with my parents for a while. I can't wait! I feel like it has been ages and I am really excited to get home to see them. We have lots to do, some wedding planning, some bits for our move, but mainly we just want to spend time with the people we will miss most. I have had to remind S about this when he has got frustrated or stressed, this month is supposed to be about enjoying our time together and with our families and I am going to try and make the most of it with mine.

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