Visiting and knitting and bits in between the wedding

John & me in the front seat

 

 

 

On the day Brad & Arlene were delayed we decided to go ahead with our original plans, to spend the day gongoozling along the Regent Canal & Paddington Basin and then go to ‘Wicked’ with Lyn & Kevin. While we were standing on the bridge looking at all the boats in Paddington Basin & right beside St. Mary’s Hospital A&E, Edmund just happened to be taking a patient there. It was so lovely to see him & Ella, sit in their ambulance & press their ‘available’ button, which immediately said they needed to blue light to an unconscious patient, so a very brisk good-bye. We’d arrange to meet up the following week on our way back from waving Brad & Arlene off on Thursday, as both Ella & Edmund needed help with their knitting.

Paddington Basin with A&E window top left

 

 

Thursday lunch time as planned we met Edmund & Ella at Ladbroke Grove & we had pizza in Portobello Road and a knitting tutorial, which we carried on in The Elgin Arms, Ladbroke Grove. Edmund’s boyfriend Josh just happened to be on his lunch break & joined us for a pint too. It was quite shocking to see the burnt out skeleton of Glenfell Towers from Ladbroke Grove.

Pam Sandra & me

Last Friday by Apsley Marina

Sandra and Pam from Hitchin Stitchin popped in to see us while we were at Apsley, they didn’t bring any knitting though. The day before I’d managed to do some knitting in the warm sunshine by Apsley Marina.

We had a mega trip to the launderette at Apsley as we’d used up all our towels & bed linen with our wedding guests. We got the machines going & John settled to read his book & I was puzzled as to where my knitting was…….Oh NO, we’d shoved it into a hot wash, luckily my sock with it’s 5 needles stayed in it’s bag, however, the pattern had turned into paper mache & had embedded into the sock and the ball of wool, it was fine and I just unpicked the sock & wound the yarn into a hank, shook it to get the bits of paper & it looks fine.

Our niece Alice & her boyfriend Mason came today for a ride & we went down 4 locks winded (turned around) & came back up the same 4 locks to moor right near Alice’s house. 

Mason steering

Hunton Bridge lock

 

Ada & Dale’s wedding

 

 

It’s over a week since Ada & Dale got married at Hunton Park Hotel, Kings Langley, with their Star Wars theme. The tables were named after planets featuring in the films and along with flowers, there were lightsabers as centre pieces. The lightsabers were enjoyed by all after the meal. It’s a lovely old house with the ceremony in the orangery there. Luckily, the house was perfect for photos, which was just as well as it poured all day long, so we weren’t able to take advantage of the beautiful gardens and grounds. They had a three tiers wedding cake, Dale’s mum Lynn made the bottom chocolate cake, plus the sugar flowers to match Ada’s bouquet, Louise made the middle red velvet cake and I made the small (we’ve only got a little oven) top lemon drizzle cake. Heather (see her Overells Oddities on all social media) made Ada’s and the bridesmaids origami flower bouquets. We haven’t got the official photos yet which is a shame.

First dance

 

Waiting for the bride

Alf (Dale's dad) & Magnus

There were 5 children, 8 years old and under, so Ada & Dale had a play room with ball pond, play mats and tunnels for them. It wasn’t just the kids that enjoyed the play things though.

Nikita Lance Heather Magnus

Nathan John Lance & Magnus

 

Ada trying to squeeze her dress throught the tunnel

Quite a lot of the guests stayed at Hunton Park on the wedding night, which meant we were able to meet up at breakfast time.

The evening before the wedding Ada stayed at my sister Louise’s house along with Heather & Nikita. As we were moored at Hunton Bridge a few minutes walk from Louise’s I joined them for a pizza & Prosecco supper, Samantha came too. Three of the husbands went to the pub.

Girls pizza & presecco night

Our friends Brad & Arlene flew in from Canada for the week of the wedding. Arlene & I have been pen-pals for 45 years. They arrived a day late as their internal flight to Toronto International airport was cancelled. They’d booked ticket for the four of us to see ‘Wicked’ in London, which they sadly had to miss. They managed to stay an extra day and as I’d already booked us all uncancellable rooms at a hotel at Heathrow so we spent 2 nights there and took a double decker bus, they only have single deckers inCanada, to Hampton Court Palace and yet another damp & dismal day. They spent a couple of days on the boat with us and we cruised a few miles and did 12 locks.

Brad & Arlen at Hampton Court

We drank Heaathrow Premier Inn out of beer

 We are now just waiting for a lock to be repaired at Berkhamsted so we can head north to Colecraft Boats to have some adjustments made to our front door & side hatches.

Cactus wedding favours in our pots from Heather's wedding

Ada’s hen do

My hen party bag

After Presecco brunch

My 3 little luverlies

Rapunzel & the Cheshire Cat

Cocktail making class

A couple of weeks a go I caught the train from Hemel Hempstead to Sheffield to meet up with Ada & the rest of her hen party. Ada’s amazing friend Lisa had arranged a two night stay at the Travel Lodge and an action packed weekend. We’d paid in full for the weekend way before Christmas so it felt like a free weekend away. I was feeling slightly under the weather still, so fortunately Heather & Edmund kindly helped me out by drinking some of my cocktails & all my shots at our cocktail making masterclass. I wasn’t looking forward to Laser Quest, however, it was such fun. We had a Disney themed weekend and Lisa had got us all Micky Mouse (for the 2 lads) & Minnie Mouse ears for us to wear. Saturday evening we all dressed up as different Disney characters to hit the town. I went as Rapunzel and John had French knitted me some lovely golden locks, which I sewed onto an elastic head band. I’d never been to Sheffield before and just need to take John there as it’s an amazing city with a lovely canal basin. Sunday morning while we were waiting for all the youngsters to get up I had a lovely stroll along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal, sadly we’ve not got a canal guide book for there, but I’ll be getting one ASAP and plan a trip there at some point.

Outside Sheffield Station

Sheffield & Tinsley Canal

Canal basin Sheffiled

I’ve been looking back at my last two winters’ worth of blogs and it seems mud features heavily in them. We are now moored at Hunton Bridge, with a beautifully made path, so we’re now in the process of de-muddying the boat & our boots. Our brother-in-law Paul strolled to meet us yesterday to help us down a few locks, after a quick lunch we went to his local, ‘Hunters’ a lovely little pub near by. Then John took the opportunity to go out with Paul and his lads in the evening. It’s nice to be moored near Louise & Paul.

We’ve got a hectic & VERY exciting couple of weeks ahead with lots of visitors planned.