Cyrus,our golden lab, lies about the house looking dejected and it seems eerily quiet without the thud, thud thud of footsteps on the stairs at speed or the sound of a door being flung open and the roaring sound that usually follows.
Yes folks, it's been three weeks since James headed off on his adventure to Ghana. Three weeks since I waved him off at Aberdeen Airport with his rucksack and his undisplaced fracture of the radial head of his left arm ( see blog no.19 for details!)
The next 24 hours were a bit disjointed in communication, with a few whatsapps and a text message reassuring me that he had negotiated the terminals at Heathrow having picked up his case and was on track for his Turkish Airlines flight to Accra in Ghana.
The next call was from his hotel in Accra where he had arrived safely but his bag, I'm afraid, had not! We made a speedy, executive descision, based on the fact that it was costing him £1.46 a minute to call home, that he should fly on to Timale in the North of the country, his final destination and let Turkish Airlines get his bag to him, not hang around in Accra. This proved a good move as his case didn't turn up for another 5 days and by then he was having a fantastic time with the folks in the Kings Village Project where he was to spend the next month.
We've had a few texts with amusing stories of spider nests under his bed or waking at 5am to find he was covered in little black ants that also got in to his cereal. He's loving teaching the kids in the school guitar and helping them with their reading.
He met another group of volunteers, on his first night there and unbelievably the team leader was from Fyvie and had a group from a church in Fraserburgh with him. I mean how far do you have to go to not meet folks from the North East of Scotland?.....
Geraldine left the North East of Scotland over eleven years ago to start a new life with her children out in New Zealand. About five years ago she met Cliff and as their friendship developed to love he proposed on New year's eve 2013 right on the bells.
Their story slowed down a bit after that as it seemed impossible for all the family to make it over for their wedding, until this year when a master plan was hatched.
Geraldine's Mum, Christine was 70 years old yesterday and the family had decided to get together and have a surprise do at her son Jim and his partner Dee's house,in the countryside between Turriff and Foggie.
Unfortunately Christine wasn't the only one to not know what was going on as Jim had changed his mobile number without telling his sisters as they were texting him their secret plans. Thankfully a week before the big birthday he bumped into one of them and they told him that the whole family were descending on them the next week and there was going to be a wedding!
Geraldine and Cliff were coming over for the party and Christina, Geraldine's older sister had cleverly thought that a combined 70th and wedding would make everyone's day.
As you know Robin had already committed to doing Mark and Michelle's nuptials ( see this mornings blog no.23), so the family said they would work round him, picking us up after the meal and having an evening ceremony.
We arrived at the house as some of the party goers were having a clay pigeon shoot and were quickly wheeked into the livingroom, out of sight from Christine, to join the secret piper, Kevin, who had come along in full gear.
The wedding cake was cup cakes, so I got a shot before we were moved to another secret location...
It was decided to have the ceremony outside as it was such a lovely evening and so a table was taken out and placed right under a huge Holly tree in the garden and there we all gathered.
Cliff came out to stand with Robin as Geraldine hid inside having asked her Mum to come through as she had something she wanted to speak to her about.
Robin of course had to initiate Cliff, who came from a Maori background, into the Scottish tradition of hip flask sharing!
After Christine had recovered from firstly, seeing Geraldine in a dress (pretty much unheard of) and secondly being asked to give her away, they came out of the house as Kevin played 'All for Marie's wedding'.
The family stood round and watched, as this moment they thought they would never be able to witness, had arrived.
Robin told us their story. Geraldine was a road maintenance machine operator ( no messing with this girl) and Cliff was her boss. They became close and eventually Geraldine grew to love him and more importantly, trust him, something she felt she would never be able to do. Obviously the perfect partnership.
Cliff struggled with the emotion of it all, to say his vows, but then, in his beautiful New Zealand accent he made his promises and they said their I dos. The family stood beaming and is tears as they witnessed this very special event.
The schedule was signed by them both and then Mum, who didn't know that she was going to be a witness ( thank goodness she agreed!) and Robin announced the new Mr and Mrs Manukau. Everyone cheered and celebrated, hugs all round.
I had a peek at the schedule to see the names of Cliff's parents and was fascinated to see that his Mum had been called Hiria Te Ahorawe Te Tureiti Green (Manukau) and his dad Te Tana London Manukau...wonderful, but not easy to shout out when you want them in for tea.
Cliff and Geraldine both have very manual jobs that don't allow jewellry ,so decided to get their wedding rings tattooed on their fingers. Really clever. Geraldine also got the Gaelic for 'Love of my heart, Cliff' tattooed on the inside of her wrist. She said it was a bit painful, but worth every bit!
The final part of the ceremony was for both of them to have a first dance. They choose a Maori traditional song and wewatched as they dances and sang to each other...obviously very much in love.
The rest of our evening was spent enjoying great company as Jim brought out his £160 bottle of Aberlour and insisted on giving everyone a nip till 15 minutes later the bottle was empty!
Steve the deer stalker had provided the meat for the barbeque, making all the sausages and burgers himself and a spit roasted Roe deer that Jim had hunted. He told us of a wedding he had been at last year down in England where he and the groom had been four and a half hours late for the wedding. They had got stuck in backlogged traffic caused by a bad car accident and only with the help of the police, managed to get to the Church with a police escort going at full pelt!
The light faded and we sat enjoying the food and the company lit by tea lights and heated by the chiminea.
A minibus came to take those of us who lived out and about home and we said our farewells. I think we'll be back in the next year or so as Robin has had a few inquiries from family and friends looking for a simple service just like Cliff and Geraldine's.
Such a lovely evening and such a great bunch of people. Sometimes the simple things just work really well and I know from seeing Cliff and Geraldine's faces and those of their family, that they wouldn't have had it any other way. Wishing them all the best as they travel back to New Zealand and look forward, as we stay in touch with the rest of the family, to hearing how life as Mr and Mrs Manukau goes from here. Much love the Minister and his Missus x
No comments:
Post a Comment