This weekend we traveled south to Oxfordshire for a wedding. The hedgerows were full of blossoming hawthorne. The season is much further on than in Scotland. Heavy laden hawthorne always reminds me of a section of the Leeds-Liverpool canal where Big Dreamer and I used to cycle. There was some sort of electric hub full of humming conductors and buzzing pylons. Most of the year it was a vision of a cold war dystopia but in the summer the hawthorne would bloom. Towering pillars of creamy froth would appear between the conductors, mirroring their arrangement. It was a thrilling sight. Nature definitely has a sense of humour.
So, in amongst the hawthorne our friends were married. The wedding was the epitome of elegance. Here are our favours: sloe gin with a label saying ‘Drink Me’. Straight from Alice in Wonderland, I loved this. We played lawn games against the backdrop of a historic property with the New Orleans Foot Stompers, dressed in stripey suits, jazzing it up in the background. I kept expecting Sebastian from Brideshead Revisited to stroll up. And of course it was wonderful to meet up with so many old friends. Although I was careful which chairs I sat on as most of them are pregnant and I’ve got a degree to finish!
