Well hello there blog mates, Eclair here, no longer a spinster of the parish but a MARRIED WOMAN!!!
After 35 yrs Mr. Geof and I got round to tying the knot, which we did on the cheap and on the cheerful and on the very sharpish.
Basically a month after registering our bits and bobs with the registrar, we had a venue booked, 30 guests invited and a menu sorted. It was dead simple and we decorated the room ourselves, with massive white helium balloons, a load of white bunting and a pile of white fairy lights, the one thing we splashed out on was flowers, lots of coral peonies and additional cottage garden bloomy things.
The girl was my bridesmaid in a pink ‘And other Stories’ frock whilst I found some unworn posh- ish clothes at the back of my wardrobe and treated myself to some new shoes WITH LOBSTERS ON.
My lobster wedding shoes!
Apart from that we had Chris George, my tour manager, on hand to cue the music, my mum and my aunty Ailleen came down from the North and everyone else was pretty local to the venue (South London Gallery Clore Studio). The service was done and dusted by 9.pm. I think we watched Love Island when we got in!
Just married
Our bridesmaid Phoebe
The only splurge – our flowers
As for the honeymoon, which is a word that I cannot say without wanting to fight, we went to Porto in Portugal, which is just fabulous and cheap and quaint and ancient and cool.
We had a lovely little self catering apartment with a supermarket just down the road, plus a great butchers and (once we re-arranged the furniture), a sea view. It was all very relaxing and just what we wanted it to be.
Example of the cool architecture in Porto
Lovely beach in Porto
One of Geof’s sketches from the holiday
Because the weather breaks wherever we go, we managed a couple of sunny days before the clouds gathered, but the great thing about going away when you’re ancient is that you don’t really give a shit. If there is one thing I have learnt in life, it’s that you cannot control the weather. Sometimes you’ve just got to put a cardi on or stop in and listen to a John le Carre on audible! Yay!
Porto ticked lots of boxes, architectural and scenic, plus the food was good and it’s still cheap. Basically I’d recommend it to anyone who fancies a short European City break- after the south of France, it was such a relief to go somewhere that didn’t feel like it was trying to rip you off every second of the day.
Porto is relatively new to tourism, direct flights have only arrived in the past few years, so it’s still keen of welcoming its new visitors and so far there’s not a chain to be seen, fingers crossed it stays just as sweet as it is.
Top Porto tips
Take a tuk, tuk ride around the city
Check out the tiles in the train station
Cabs are cheap, grab one and go to the Serralves art gallery, where you will find a beautiful pink 30’s mansion house in the fabulous gardens.
Check out Rua Miguel Bombarda which is Berlin-like in its arty pop up gallery vibe
But if you want posher shops inc soaps and stationary head for Rua das Flores.
To be honest – we only scraped the surface, but I’d go back in a heart beat
Tuk Tuk trip
Station tiles
Serralves gallery and gardens
Rua des Miguel Bombarda
Rua das Flores
Back now in London, I’m glued to my desk for the next few months- the gigs are over until October, so I’m writing – what I’m writing- only time will really tell, I’m too superstitious to feel properly confident of anything at the moment!
In between the writing and the wobbling about what I’m writing – I’ve been painting and reading- I reckon the must read book of the summer will be “Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine’ which is a great first novel about love and misfits and a real page turner.
Painting wise, I’m realizing that my skills are very limited which is frustrating as my course has finished and ideally I would like to have a Tuesday morning art class for the rest of my life.
Hey ho, for a change, I’ve signed up for a four- week pottery course, every Sat morning through Aug, I shall post you my results!
All the best…
Better get on
Jx