W Is For Wedding

Spring time is the perfect time to get married, and in two days time the world (or at least the women of the world) will no doubt be glued to the television to see the spectacle that is the Royal Wedding take place in London.

Celebrity weddings are always popular, but so often are kept as secret or private affairs, but the Royal Wedding will be in keeping with tradition and be one where the whole of the United Kingdom can celebrate.

Not since the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the parents of Prince William, got married almost 30 years ago, has London seen such pomp and circumstance.

Sure there have been other Royal Weddings, like those of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, but nothing that quite compares to the one that we are all looking forward to in the coming week.

The UK is excited for a number of reasons, not just because of the wedding itself, but because the wedding day, 29th April 2011 has also been declared a National Holiday.

Not wishing to make those in the USA jealous, especially since many of you might not have had a public holiday off work since New Years Day, and are waiting anxiously for Memorial Day at the end of May, but in the UK this time of year is probably the best of all for public holidays.

Only last weekend, the country had four days off work for Easter, and this coming weekend will see not only Friday as a holiday because of the Royal Wedding, but the following Monday as a holiday because it’s the first Monday in May.   With Easter falling so late this year, that makes it two four day weekends in a row, and on top of that the weather has been gorgeous.

The Royal Wedding will be good for the country in a time of unrest and high unemployment, and it is a good thing that the celebration is not going to be an overly lavish affair, which would not sit well with the public.

My only concern is that there are certain groups in the UK who like to protest and cause trouble, as was seen during a large demonstration in London in March, when over 200 people were arrested for damaging public property and assaulting the police.  These criminals, which is what they are, were not part of the protest, but merely used it as a reason to create problems.

Then of course there are the terrorist elements, who could be looking to use this event where many celebrities and high ranking officials are gathered together to try and cause more innocent deaths. You never know when and where these psychopaths are going to try and strike next.

My son and his wife are both police officers in London, and in March they were both on duty in Trafalgar Square, my son having around 15 bottles thrown at him.  I have to hope that every time there is an event like this in London and when I know that they are working, that they will be safe and not come to any harm.

So meantime, both Debbie and I will be watching television, seeing how many celebrities we can spot, looking to see if Victoria Beckham has learned to smile yet (I think it’s a physical imposibility myself), and looking to see if we can spot my son among the many police on duty that day.

It’s only just over a year of course since Debbie and I got married, and as those of you who read my articles know it’s been a difficult year, with Debbie getting sick, but things are now looking up and we hope that 2011 will be a great year for us.  If you missed the wedding photos, you can view them HERE and see what true happiness looks like.

If you are getting married this Spring or in the coming months, we wish you every happiness together.

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I wrote a new post on our blog, and for a few reasons.

Firstly, life has just been very hectic lately, with Debbie’s daughter, husband, 9 month old baby and 2 dogs coming to live with us 3 months ago.  The extra people in the house, especially a baby and 2 dogs, just made it harder to focus on all the writing that I wanted to do.

They are headed out to South Africa (emigrating) in a few weeks, as soon as the visas have been sorted out, so soon we will have the house to ourselves again.  No doubt it will be then almost too quiet!   The dogs have gone to new homes, so no more barking or mud trodden into the carpets, however Debbie’s grandson is now in between the crawling and walking stage, and has discovered how to shriek at a pitch and loudness that is dangerous for your health.  It’s that “fun” stage where the word “NO” doesn’t seem to mean anything, so it keeps you on your toes, and nothing is safe!

Secondly, we only moved into the house at the end of October, and there are plenty of things that need doing, both inside and in the garden.  It’s taken a lot of our time, but again it’s been hard to get motivated to do some things.

Thirdly and most importantly, we finally got married in April, and went to Cornwall on honeymoon.  The preparations for the wedding took a lot of Debbie’s focus and time, and also mine to an extent.

Lastly, in an attempt to try and boost my online earnings, I have been writing a lot over at Associated Content.  This is a great site for authors wanting to get noticed, and if you are thinking of writing to earn some money, I definitely recommend it.  Click Here to register, and even if you don’t want to write, you can opt to be sent an email every time I publish a new article.

So what do I write about?

Pretty much anything really, from written articles to poetry to slideshows of our trips and local area.  Topics recently have included the UK General Election, the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud, movie quizes and a lot more.  Just visit my account at Associated Content and take a look.

I am hoping that as the year progresses both Debbie and I will be back writing here as well, but you can always see what we are up to, every Sunday there is a Twitter summary posted here, and on Mondays a summary of my new publications over at Associated Content.

I hope you have a chance to read some of what I have written there, and every page view counts towards my earnings total.  If you do visit, please be sure to leave a comment to let me know you were there.

I Got The Job!

I had two job interviews earlier this week, and I knew that it was down to just me and another person at the second interview.

Well, having waited all yesterday for official notification, I had a call this morning to let me know that I did get the job.   I am over the moon, since jobs for people with my skills and experience are so scarce these days, especially in the UK.

The money will not be as good as I have been earning in the USA, but aside from salaries in the UK being a bit lower in general than the USA, we are in a recession, and I also have some new skills to learn in this job.   I am pleased to finally have a chance to learn some more up to date computing skills, and this also gives me the incentive to really prove myself, and if I can do that well, then the long term benefits will follow.

At this point in my life (I will turn 55 this weekend), I am not looking for a quick way to earn a bit more and to move on, I am looking for a job that I enjoy, working with a good group of people, and where I can hopefully stay until I am ready to retire.  So really, if I do my bit, with luck this will see me through.

Debbie and I are off to Warwickshire (in the heart of England) this weekend.  My cousin’s daughter is getting married, so a chance to celebrate, for Debbie to meet more of my family, and for us to have a couple of nights away in a 17th century Bed & Breakfast place.    Photos and more stories to follow…

Good News

Debbie And Tony EngagementDebbie and I are pleased to announce that we got engaged yesterday (8th April 2009).   We have known for a long time that we wanted to get engaged, and how we felt about each other, but we just wanted to wait until the time was right before making things official.

I dropped down on one knee in the bedroom behind Debbie while she was looking in the closet, so that when she turned around and saw me it was obvious what was happening.   I asked her if she would marry me, the answer to which was a wonderfully happy “YES”.

A little known fact is that pretty much everything that has happened in our relationship happened on a Wednesday, so it only seemed right to get engaged on a Wednesday as well.   After the tears of joy and lots of hugs etc, we decided to head out to the shops to look for an engagement ring.

Debbie And Tony Engagement RingDebbie knew more or less what she was looking for, a Trilogy ring in White Gold, so once in town we looked around all the jewellery stores until we found one that we both liked.  We narrowed it down to two rings that we both liked in one of the stores, and it wasn’t hard to make a decision.  Fortunately, the ring was even the right size and fitted her finger perfectly.

To celebrate, we went out in the evening to a local Indian Restaurant that we both like, which does excellent food, and it’s only 5 minutes walk from the house.   The meal was wonderful, followed by a walk home, the stars out and an almost full moon shining down on us.

This was a very special day for us both, and we just wanted to share it with all our friends.

Tony & Debbie