I left Croatia via stunning Dubrovnik for England to attend a second wedding in as many weeks. Jo (a Londoner living in WA) ensured a welcoming intro to London - forcing her Dad to pick me up in his cab then zipping me down to catch her brother and friends for a few pints, a curry and a beıgel in Brick lane before putting me up at her parents house (after I showed exactly how soft an Aussie I am by falling asleep in a club). 
It was nice to be in a homely place after a few weeks on the road ... it felt even more homely the next morning when Jo woke me up gave me a coffee, English breakfast and train schedule before sending me off to Bere Ferrers with a packed lunch - if only she handn't refused to pack my bags i could have been back at No. 44!
Bere Ferrers is a ridiculously quaint town coincidently the home to Ange's (my sis) parents in law and Raech's (the bride to be) family. Exactly how quaint is hard to explain, however, I stayed in a converted barn (thanks Bob and Annie), strolled the lake and flowering hedgerows, talked to the lovely ladies selling cakes for the women's league (their last meeting was a talk on the language of fans ... if only had more time), and generally wondered if I'd meet anyone who was not in someway involved with the wedding. Berre Ferrers was a nice intersection point with Hannah and her brother Adin travelling the opposite way around the globe and the tiny local pub proved to be the perfect place to catch up with Tiff and Raech and meet their friends on the night before the big day.
Fortunately Raech's braces had been removed so she was legally allowed to be married, Tiff wisely said yes, many single girls wept, and the newly weds hurried off in horse and cart to get Raech to the mountain of food at the reception (which, in a stroke of genius, included Cornish pasties). Raech was keen to keep eating so the party continued through the following day and into the local pub where the open night provided her dad's sea shanty group a perfect forum to belt out some old numbers. The tight pub atmosphere, shanties and a few beers were enough to convince Adın and I (Han declined) to shed our Aussie masculinity and sign up for an act. After a quick practice with a supportive local and a quicker beer we delivered a tuneless and out of time rendition of waltzing matilda (using an iphone for lyrics) - fortunately the crowd was both generous and vocal for the choruses (See vıd at bottom of post)!
With no time to bask in our new found Bere Ferrers fame, I joined Adin his fight against Hannah's tyrrany on a trip down to St. Ives, Cornwall (Yes, Cornish pasties constitute a balanced diet. No, vegetables or vitamin suppliments are not required) before heading back to London to catch up with Jo and try capture some of the great city in a day!
Followıng 2 wedding parties, a bucksnight and a few in between it was time to head for every Hobartian's solution to early morning haze - Mykonos ... or at least an Athenian takeaway.
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