I see its very quiet tonight. Have just read the rest of Snowflakes brilliant posts on the weekend. Along with everybody else's efforts, it feels like we haven't missed a thing, doesn't it. Thanks again for including us. xx
Hello strangers, sorry I haven't posted in a while, no excuse really so very sorry. Shem, I love your little adventures that you post about, fabulous stuff.
Snowy and Jan, loved reading your reports. I'll say again, wish I'd been there.
Wendy, how are you? Hope all's well at home. And how are the wedding plans coming along?
Sue, how are the babies? Are they crawling yet or trying to pull themselves up?
I promise I'll try to post more often. lotsa love L x
Daughters got it all under control, cakes arranged lol, suits ordered plus final fittings, her dress ordered, church booked, reception booked, going to sort out bridesmaid dress in June, honeymoon booked (Mexico (made me think of Dec 2010 & Josie)) child bridesmaid is only 2 and a half - 3 at wedding so size is worrying - can't be done yet - seen dresses in Debenhams that daughter loves but someone told us as soon as Xmas stock comes in bridesmaids dresses will be non and void to make way. DOES ANYONE WORK AT DEBENHAMS THAT CAN TELL ME IF THIS IS THE CASE OR NOT I thank you
Daughters got it all under control, cakes arranged lol, suits ordered plus final fittings, her dress ordered, church booked, reception booked, going to sort out bridesmaid dress in June, honeymoon booked (Mexico (made me think of Dec 2010 & Josie)) child bridesmaid is only 2 and a half - 3 at wedding so size is worrying - can't be done yet - seen dresses in Debenhams that daughter loves but someone told us as soon as Xmas stock comes in bridesmaids dresses will be non and void to make way. DOES ANYONE WORK AT DEBENHAMS THAT CAN TELL ME IF THIS IS THE CASE OR NOT I thank you
Evening everyone
Maybe if she just buys bigger and have it altered nearer the time if needs be
Maggi X
just like to say thanks to cheeky for lettting me join her blog.started looking at it this morning about 1.15am as waiting for hubby to get back with youngest son from gatwick.then went to bed about 2.45am.speak soon
I see its very quiet tonight. Have just read the rest of Snowflakes brilliant posts on the weekend. Along with everybody else's efforts, it feels like we haven't missed a thing, doesn't it. Thanks again for including us. xx
Daughters got it all under control, cakes arranged lol, suits ordered plus final fittings, her dress ordered, church booked, reception booked, going to sort out bridesmaid dress in June, honeymoon booked (Mexico (made me think of Dec 2010 & Josie)) child bridesmaid is only 2 and a half - 3 at wedding so size is worrying - can't be done yet - seen dresses in Debenhams that daughter loves but someone told us as soon as Xmas stock comes in bridesmaids dresses will be non and void to make way. DOES ANYONE WORK AT DEBENHAMS THAT CAN TELL ME IF THIS IS THE CASE OR NOT I thank you
Hello strangers, sorry I haven't posted in a while, no excuse really so very sorry. Shem, I love your little adventures that you post about, fabulous stuff.
Snowy and Jan, loved reading your reports. I'll say again, wish I'd been there.
Wendy, how are you? Hope all's well at home. And how are the wedding plans coming along?
Sue, how are the babies? Are they crawling yet or trying to pull themselves up?
I promise I'll try to post more often. lotsa love L x
they're standing a lot and furniture walk and with the trucks but not got the confidence to go yet, theyre 17 mths next week, 1 has started biting so has to have time out, they sau sowwy to her sister
It’s now Saturday, 9am and Rhi’s alarm clock is ringing profusely, telling us to GET UP, we had arranged to meet Jan and Babs for breakfast. Being the soldiers that we are, Rhi and I dragged ourselves out of bed whilst the lightweights of Cheeky and Muddy refused to budge...Muddy claiming that she would not be moving until at least mid day (which at the time we thought was a joke...nhaaaat! Off we trotted in our pajamas, our hair askew and me sans bra (a detail Rhi thought eeeeveryone needed to know about) to eat as much food as humanly possible to set us up for the day ahead. Turns out no one else was down there yet and so we made our way to Jan’s room, as she informed us that Phiiiiilll had arrived with Kay and so we darted up to give her a mahoosive hug! Phil epitomises all things JJJ for me and every time I see her I’m reminded of how amazing she is, how strong her faith in them is and to never stop believing in true love! I’m ever more certain in a few years’ time she’ll be buying her fascinator for a certain wedding After having some further giggles explaining how hilarious Jan had been the night before, we all went down to breakfast and gave Phil and Kay a sly free breakfast courtesy of Muddy and Cheeky, who would not be leaving their pits to make the most of theirs. I thought it this was the first time I’d spoken to Kay, but apparently we’d conversed online before but I had zero memory of this or who she was and had to nod a little and pretend I remembered...sorry Kay, always better to be honest !
Then our lovely Poetess Lyn arrived just as we were wolfing down our fry-ups and she looked fresh-faced and ready for a fun day...just the way we like it. After getting ready and giving Muddy some headache tablets, we set off to Oxford town, where our wonderful Cheeky had booked us a punt for 1.30pm and I was feeling really quite peaky at the prospect of this as I have total boat fear! Don’t like getting on them, don’t like being on them and certainly don’t like the idea of falling in to a murky river that would undoubtedly contain every disease under the sun. But alas, as Phil and Jan were brave enough to give it a go I thought ‘what the hell’ and as you can imagine it was a sight to behold and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! All of us in our boater hats and Phil crawling on to the boat and lighting up at the first chance she got...brilliant! Thank god we did chicken out and have a professional to steer us, as the screams and yelps were deafening enough when someone knew what they were doing...although when we were banging into other boats I felt our professional’s skills were debatable! Highlights of the ride included Cheeky standing up to show how brave she was and then going to punt herself and Phil shouting in a very concerned and fraught voice, “CHEEKY, WHERE AAAARE YOU GOING?” Jan was cracking up laughing and the back and Rhi and I nearly fell in the river from giggling! Phil’s stories behind the pictures she sends to John were also absolutely hysterical and in typical Phil fashion, the obscenities just dripped off her tongue, even when there were kids in the boats near by...classic!
When we arrived safely back to shore, Babs was filming us and everyone was taking great pleasure in us all struggling to get off of the boat safely without it capsizing...a few screams were once again thrown in there for effect (we weren’t scared, honest!) We then went to a lovely bar/ restaurant to give Babs a taste of her first ever English High Tea and we were extremely civilised sitting in an ornate surrounding and enjoying our scones and beverages...with our boater hats on don’t forget! Naughty Babs sneakily treated us to our traditional English afternoon and whilst the others went back to the hotel for a rest, Cheeky, Rhi and I decided to stay on and do a bit more sightseeing in Oxford and of course buy a couple of little trinkets and one or two bags of sweets.
Checking that Muddy hadn’t fallen unconscious back at the hotel, we then boarded the longest bus ride back eeeever and were being taunted by our pall who was tweeting us from the hotel room! There was a moment when Cheeky tried to give me a heart attack on the bus by claiming one of our notorious stalkers was on there too but thankfully she was joking! Was lovely to hear from all our wonderful friends throughout the day who wanted to know how we were getting on and I was especially missing Gussiecat and Vixxen sooo much! Could just imagine what part they would have played throughout the weekend...adding even more laughter & wit, though we did all still have it in abundance.
It’s back to the hotel and time to get changed for our meal and night ahead and in typical female fashion, we were all uhming and arring about what to wear and there were a couple of dress swaps and swap backs before we finally made it out of the door! The plan was to enjoy a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio to unwind before we left, but calamity Muddy struck again and half of her quota ended up on the floor! Haha, she is the female Frank Spencer (please don’t cull me!) As we were applying the finishing touches to hair and make-up there was a knock on the door and low and behold the fabulous and gorgeous Pumpkin Kirsty had arrived! Queue lots of squeees and hugs and finally the night could begin; we were all here! Cheeky had booked Giraffe to cheer up our poorly Muddy and when we finally got there, ten thousand taxis later, we settled ourselves in for what we knew was going to be a night full of laughs, discussions and a little bit of frivolity. With a group of people as h’amaaaazing as us what else would you expect?? Our table was certainly the loudest by far and I couldn’t have been prouder, as you know what they say, the ones who roll their eyes and snigger at those having fun are the ones who are green with envy not to be a part of it!
Our meal was nice, although I was certainly more interested in the vino that we’d managed to knock down in price and we had some great conversations about the terrible two (that’s not me and Cheeky by the way). Once again it just brought home how special they are and how proud they should be to have united soooo many people through their love for one another and I don’t know any other couple who can ever claim to have had such a cosmic impact on so many peoples’ lives. Fate brought them together and we were somehow destined to be brought together too and I strongly believe our journeys are not over. The JJJAT will never die because their love lives on in each and every one of us, whether you believe they still feel that for each other or not, no one will ever be able to take that away. Fate proved to us it was still watching, by proving to any doubter out there that PHIL IS UNEQUIVICALLY NOT FORMETOKNOW, as unless she’s able to telepathically tweet, she was with 10 witnesses and her hands did not go near Twitter all night! So there!!
The bus ride back to the hotel was hilarity personified! From Phil trying to count her pennies as we were trying to board, to Kirsty spontaneously deciding to show us who’s really got talent in Britain by dancing around the strategically placed pole on the bus!! She can bend this way, that way and is available for all weddings and bar mitzvahs. Wanting to get a bit of the limelight ourselves, Cheeky and I joined her and we were all spinning around this pole on a packed bus (still dignified) and feeling rather pleased with ourselves to be getting so many dodgy looks and strange smiles.:p The Hugh Grant look-a-like thought we were ace, so that’s a good enough critique for me! The more our guys laughed, the more they egged us on and I’m sure you can tell from the pictures what a great time we had on our now legendary bus journey!
When we got back to the hotel, those of us that were drinking were really rather merry and tidily and the drinks continued to pour in our room as we joked and laughed and decided what a woooonderful idea it would be to do a twitcam for all our absent friends! I think we can blame Wendy for what you all had to witness, as we promised her we’d do one and we never go back on a promise! From the 15mins that saved, you can kind of get the gist of what the 50-odd people watching live had to endure and special apologies go out to the wonderful Vixx, who was the butt of many a twitcam joke! Playing Club Tropicana drinks are freeee was particularly naughty and as I have already mentioned, if it softens the blow Fox, Muddy recreated this by playing the Wham song and throwing a lime at my head! The ‘Vixx and Qwerty are soulmates’ was perhaps another faux pas on my part Just as well Gussie wasn’t online, as she would have been in for it too! Just goes to show how much we love you and missed you, right?
All in all the twitcam provided us with enough belly giggles to pull a muscle...from Phil talking about her knickers (I thought they were purple Jan), to Alma flashing her treasure chest, to Lyn’s amazing poem to Qwerty making a guest appearance and perving on us! Not to mention Muddy’s hilarious apology to the whole of Twitter, after skulking all the way to the camera and hogging the attention! It was at that moment Den told us she was ghosthunting with Josie and we couldn’t work out who would be having more fun...although I think it would be a close call! Can you imagine our next tour to be ghosthunting...oh the hilarity!
We finally went to bed at about 4am, which was pretty good considering our usual form, although as Rhi and I conked out, we could hear Muddy and Cheeky chatting in the background, but by this point we were toooo exhausted to chime in. What time they finally went to be, who knows? Needless to say our activities from the night before left us toooo tired and ill to go down for breakfast and it took all our energy to pack up our bits and be out of the room by 12pm. With visits from our lovelies Jan, Phil and Kirsty to see how we were doing, we all went down to meet in the lobby. The gloriously kind, caring and dignified Babs came to help us take our luggage down; a true gem! We then had a few more pics – with our ribenas and jaffa cakes and made our way to a local pub for some lunch. Mumma Jan decided that Muddy and I looked far too ill to be driving home straight away and that we needed a good meal inside us!! She wasn’t wrong...the car journey was pretty funny, with Muddy trying not to spew everywhere (apologies for laughing...it’s an illness).
Our little group of 9 or 10 looked pretty cute squashed around a table for 6, but we weren’t budging, as we didn’t want to be parted and miss out on further conversations! The food was wonderful, the company was brilliant and our Poetess treated us to our drinks and we toasted once again to this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon! When we were all saying our goodbyes and going our separate ways in the carpark it was like the scene from Love Actually, when everyones’ hugging at Heathrow Airport. It was really sad saying bye to Babs, as we know it’s less likely we’ll see her as frequently, but at the same time we were just sooo thankful to have finally got to meet her! We all had huuuge bear snuggles, thanked each other for making another weekend to remember and said adieu...until the next time...
Massive thanks goes out to John James and Josie, two wonderful and special individuals who have enriched so many peoples’ lives and long may they continue to do so! We wish you both all the happiness in the world and will never stop caring about you or wanting the best for you. No matter where life takes you, please always look back on your Summer of Love and smile at what you shared and be humbled by the gift of friendship and love that you’ve given to all of us. We'll never forget you, no matter how hard we might want to try sometimes!
x x Lots of love always John James and Josie and JJJAT x x
snowflake absolutely loved your oxford tales, when you tell people that you was at oxford, they will think you really clever and that you went to the university, haha
your post made me smile, laugh, with a bit of sadness thrown in as well, for what was and for being green with envy, well done to all
hello all starting to come round to myself Thank God still very tired and getting tests done again ......enough about me hope all is well and ye are all fine.The poems and posts from Oxford were class,the tears were tripping me they were so lovely btw I'm a crier anyway and even worse when i'm no well,canny wait to get nearly well so's i can get back on again funny how ye miss people,but don't worry i'll be fixed before the wedding will talk to ye all soon love yeez ..........later people xxx
Comments
I see its very quiet tonight. Have just read the rest of Snowflakes brilliant posts on the weekend. Along with everybody else's efforts, it feels like we haven't missed a thing, doesn't it. Thanks again for including us. xx
Daughters got it all under control, cakes arranged lol, suits ordered plus final fittings, her dress ordered, church booked, reception booked, going to sort out bridesmaid dress in June, honeymoon booked (Mexico
Evening everyone
Very quiet everywhere tonight
Maggi X
Maybe if she just buys bigger and have it altered nearer the time if needs be
Maggi X
We've thought of that Maggi, not really sure what to do, I might ask on twitter lol :eek::p:D
evening wend - lizzi - linda how are you xx
they're standing a lot and furniture walk and with the trucks but not got the confidence to go yet, theyre 17 mths next week, 1 has started biting so has to have time out, they sau sowwy to her sister
im fine the weather islovely is'nt it
night sue xx
Sunshine and Eurovision, what more could you ask for:D (joking)
fanbloodytastic snowy! such a way with words!!
Daily Aquarius: Follow your instincts and do as you wish today. http://j.mp/bNWM5w[/url :eek::D
White lillies - I know it would work for me
Night everyone
Wendy xxx
Sleep well
:sleep::sleep:
your post made me smile, laugh, with a bit of sadness thrown in as well, for what was and for being green with envy, well done to all
Day off work for me today so I am relaxing in the garden. It is very hot out there though so I have just come in to cool down for a few minutes