Solstice 2016 didn't really happen.

I was very sad on the day of the Solstice this year - it's always been something special for me and for the last two years it's been extra special.

Two years ago, Robyn and me were sitting on the top of Box Hill, having a drink, eating chocolate cake and watching the night fall. Then by accident we saw the fireworks at Glyndebourne some 50 miles away.

It was when we knew we were in love.

Last year, with a broken back, we spent all night at Stonehenge waiting for the sun to rise between the stones. It was very, very special.

We'd wanted to go back for the winter equinox last year but I was too ill.

Right now I'm struggling and we just have too much on - we couldn't go. So it was very sad.

Then again we'd already had a busy day;

These are the cobbles of Camden Lock, under water from the rain. We went there to buy a hat for me to wear at our wedding.

We also had a wander around what is still one of my favourite places and on a wet Monday morning there weren't many people about either.

Then we took a look around all the food stalls and Robyn made me try a Turkish wrap.

Now, I don't normally like wraps but I liked this one;

Then we headed up to town to buy rings - which we thought would be easy but it wasn't and we need to get back to collect them later this week. Now that's a problem because I have a hospital appointment and another dose of chemo to look forward to!

Then we got home and realised how much we still have to do - with people arriving most days.

So no night out for us on The Solstice but we did go for a walk around historic Ankerwycke to watch night fall.

The sky was amazing;

And we watched the moon rise too - it was the night of a 'strawberry moon' also known as a 'honeymoon'.

Well it was a full moon and very pretty;

And we took a look at The Ankerwycke Yew which is between 1000 and 2000 years old;

So what did we do the next morning?

We found that the wedding music we'd carefully burnt onto both a DVD and a CD wouldn't play on a CD player so we went into Egham and did all the charity shops - we found nearly all the music that Robyn had chosen on old fashioned CD's for just under £3!

We got back home and Robyn got a reply from The Registry Office, who confirmed that the 70 days notice period expired yesterday and The Home Office hasn't done anything to stop us getting married. We are legit!

We went over to the reception venue for our appointment to go through everything with them.

Then my printer cartridge ran out - no more copies.

I should explain that when I started this Blog, I tried to get a new cable for my obsolete old laser printer but I was told it would cost almost as much as a new printer - so I bought a new printer and blogged about it.

But I kept the old cartridge - somehow it seemed wrong to throw it out.

So now I opened up the old cartridge and then using a soldering iron, burnt a hole in the empty one. Then I refilled it from the old one before I sealed it up again with duct tape.

Amazingly, when I put it back in the printer it worked. I fear it won't last for long because these days cartridges come with a chip that kills the thing when you've used up the number of copies it thinks you should be allowed to have.

Anyway, Robyn then typed up the schedule of music, printed it off and we drove in to Windsor to drop it off with the discs to The Registry office - which happened to be at exactly the time we will get married in a weeks time. We also met one of the registrars who will do our marriage for us as she arrived for another ceremony.

We got home and after a rest I cut back the grass in the front garden.

Then, in a panic, we realised that the plans we'd made about flowers weren't going to work out - so we've come up with something different to deal with that.

Wait and see, it's exciting!

Wow I'm tired out now.

Lots still to do - no wonder people do this months in advance.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com