Lots has happened these past few days - I've been very busy and it's all been very exciting!

Friday our friends Will and Shilpa got married. It was a lovely and simple service at Westonbirt Arboretum. It's somewhere I originally thought I'd love to get married, but Shilpa called it first so fair enough - but seeing it I think it wouldn't have been for me. I missed the pomp and gramdour of a church wedding, and I know that's something that's never going to change if you opt for a civil ceremony. I guess they didn't want to, but some readings or poems might have been nice - as it was the whole thing was over very quickly. Still, it was a glorious day and the arboretum is always lovely, though when we came out of the Oak Hall where the service was there were members of the public walking by watching us! A little disconcerting.

The evening reception was at an inn marquee is Gloucester, and it was lovely! A huge and very grand place to have a meal and a dance. The food was fabulous, the speaches were all great, and the disco was just cheesy enough without going over the top (too often). I certainly had a wonderful time, and for a wedding of a bit of a budget it was fabulous.

Saturday morning we drove back down to Lymington to see my family. Or I had intended to drive down that morning but overslept and ended up leaving after lunch. :) We had a nice meal and a couple of games of Carcassonne. My mum drank a little too much and ended up dancing to Abba (oh dear), but it's always nice to come and have a few drinks and a fun evening with my parents and older brother.

Sunday we all headed off into the forest for a walk and to collect sloes. It felt like July with the sun beating down! We saw red deer, loads of mushrooms, a lesser spotted woodpecker, flycatchers, gathered enough huge juicy sloes to make about 3 litres of gin for Christmas (I took half back with me and my older brother had the other half), and of course there were lots of ponies looking all lovely and glossy this time of year. It's clearly been a good year for the wildlife of the New Forest!

We got back to find my little brother and his new girlfriend had been waiting back at home for half and hour expecting dinner to be ready. So we all had a chat and a couple of drinks (not me - I had to drive) while dinner was made. One lovely roast and pudding later and we came back to Salisbury.

Today Tom is ill. We've been around sick people both at the conference and the wedding, so it was inevitable that he was going to catch something. I've been sniffling but it's not amounted to anything, but this morning he has man flu. I know it's bad because his boss cam to see me to say that the message Tom left on his answerphone first thing was really pathetic-sounding, and even ended up with a little cough of misery. Awww. :P

Tomorrow is my birthday proper and I'm not sure if people have remembered. Normally I'd rely on Tom to remind people but with him gone it's going to take someone to notice in the calendar. I can but hope that there will be cake and a card waiting for me at work.