As with most things I’ve been associated with, the wedding didn’t go exactly according to plan, and even the ‘stag night’ didn’t quite work out as smoothly as it might have.
Because this was really an ‘informal’ affair with just immediate family I’d sort of assumed that for the wedding day itself we’d just go into Sydney, go to the Powerhouse Museum for the morning then meander across to the Registry Office in the afternoon. Sounds a little ‘simplistic’ I know but we’re ‘members’ of the Museum, and it’s only a short walk from there to the Office.
It all seemed to fit in nicely. We could go in early, let the kids lose some steam, and an hour or so before the ceremony we could all go to the Members Lounge to get organised. The ladies could get their faces on, and we could all get changed. We could have had a glass of wine, fruit juice, or a cup of tea and biscuits… (all free to members :)) and then saunter slowly to the Registry Office for the daughter and husband to meet destiny.
The first thing that went wrong was that during the afternoon I suddenly came down with some odd virus that made my stomach feel queasy, my head and throat hurt, and my BP raising so my head was pounding. I put the dinner on (fresh salmon… mmm) but had to go to bed without eating any. As ‘medication’ I had a bowl of yoghurt and Manuka honey which (oddly enough) seemed to settle most of the problems. I lay in bed, watched a DVD and when the wife eventually came to bed, drifted off to sleep.
What neither of us knew was that downstairs a chaotic scenario was gently unfolding.
Obviously, it was the eve of the son-in-law-to-be’s (SIL) wedding as well… so it was his ‘stag night’!! Being a long way from friends or family there was only the ‘nephew in law’ (NIL) around. I was missing in action and doubt I’d have been interested anyway. The days when I was prepared to get alcoholic poisoning in the name of tradition are past… sadly. 🙂
The details are a little sketchy… I’ve not tried to go into details… but as far as I can make out the pair of them went off to the local pub for a few drinks. Came back for a few drinks… and then had a few drinks more! And then rounded it all off with a few drinks… and a swim in the pool!!!
No complete info on what happened as I said, but I *do* know that the NIL managed to get the SIL out of the pool eventually and up to the bedroom.
In he slides… only to be met by a certain level of hostility from the daughter who told him he stunk and we wasn’t going to sleep in their room and make her feel sick all night… so he mumbles something incoherent about the daughter being his ‘ex-girlfriend’, and went off to sleep on a mattress in with the grandsons (GS1, GS2), one of whom (GS2) woke up. Seems the conversation went along these lines:
GS2: What’s that smell?
SIL: Go to sleep son… it’s just me.
GS2: It’s terrible it makes me feel sick.
SIL: It’s just me.
GS2: It can’t be you daddy. If it was you… you’d be dead!
I think that paints enough of a picture on it’s own. 🙂
Next morning of course both the SIL and NIL were still very much worse for wear so there was no chance at all of us going anywhere in the morning, let alone driving into the City. Both the daughter and niece we less than impressed with their beau’s, but I think they figured the effects of the alcohol more than covered any ‘punishment’ they might have in mind.
By lunchtime both were more or less coherent and able to function so off we went… Sydney and the wedding were calling. 🙂
The Eclectic Interweb 