Recap of the Month - September 2023

I didn't get around to posting a monthly recap for August, although the gist of it was covered in my football round up. September was different, with fewer football matches but as much travelling - and a major life milestone towards the end of the month: our Silver Wedding Anniversary!

There have been several times in the run up to our 25th wedding anniversary that Cathy and I have discussed how we can't possibly be having a Silver Wedding because that's what old people have! And yet here we are and suddenly we are the old people celebrating being married for a quarter of a century.

We have been through a lot together. We have lost people we love along the way. And we have made lots of new friends - and some of them have made even more friends for us - since we got married. When we gathered some friends together to celebrate there were lots of kids to invite as well. 

We booked our friend Sian to come and do a photoshoot of us with everyone during the day - and that's her handiwork at the top of the post, when we got a few photos outside in the grounds of the venue. Sian would have been on our guestlist anyway, but she did a fabulous job coaxing our nephews, nieces and other younger friends to smile and pose nicely for photos. I've loved Sian's photography for a long time so it was great to actually be in the pictures.

Having family here meant I also got to watch a Rugby World Cup game with my sister and brother-in-law and the nieces and nephew who support Scotland. They were staying the night after the party and it was a rare opportunity to hang out with them.

My niece Jura in the photo under duress!

We had the celebration on the Saturday before our actual anniversary. On the day itself I had the day off work and we went to Porthcawl for a little look round the shops.

Jaffa Cake ice cream!

We stopped at Rest Bay for a snack in the car overlooking the waves. The wind was up and there was a nice wildness in the air there. It was a low key highly enjoyable relaxing day.

The celebration weekend was in-between two weekends with a Northern feel. The first one involved a trip to Leeds for Margot's memorial service. That was on the Friday and I stayed in Shrewsbury the weekend which meant I saw my eldest nephew, Zac, on his birthday. 

We also went to a football match with some of his mates - sadly a disappointing defeat for Shrewsbury Town.

The other weekend involved a trip to Manchester for a big work event. As a team we have been gearing up for this event since I started my "new" job back in July. It marked the launch of the new brand identity for the programme and a new name - "Together Type 1". 

Some of my team suitably branded up

I don't often blog about work but this was a very special day where I got to meet several of the young people with type 1 diabetes who are involved in the programme. They are a truly inspiring group of people and meeting them in real life was probably my highlight of a very busy couple of days where I was mainly in 'event mode'.

So, after a month of travelling and big events, both personal and professional, I feel I can relax a bit although looking at the calendar, October is going to be another month with a bit of travel in it too!

Fun with street art

I'm having a week off between leaving my last job and starting my new one. On Tuesday, Cathy and I were in the city centre and we saw some cool street art. We tried to pose some photos with it, but couldn't get it to click.

So we went back on Wednesday and had a mess around. The patrons of the nearby nail bar watched on amused as I struck various poses.

I really like these photos and decided to use them to give my socials an overhaul. These are now on Facebook, Twitter and I've put one in the sidebar of this blog. 

A while back I wrote a poem called Angel Voice (you can read it here). The more I think about it, angels are no use if they stay in Heaven. Maybe they wear Ellesse sports jackets and dirty Converse. (Or maybe they don't.)

I want to give a massive thank you to Cathy for humoring me, and also for ordering me into position to get the shots just right. 

If you want to copy this, then go and find the Big Moose Coffee Co. The wings and halo are on the wall opposite. Big Moose serve an excellent cup of coffee as well and is an independent non-profit venture well worth supporting. I don't know who drew the wings. I offer my thanks to the unsung genius. 

This is how a groom and his groomsmen make an entrance at a wedding

One of the real highlights of last year was being asked to be Best Man for one of my best friends, all-round creative bright spark and fairly decent graphic designer, Matt, as he married the lovely Lauren.

One of the things I really had in mind as Best Man was a shot for us groomsmen, because one of the things about weddings is that there are usually lots of shots, quite rightly, of the bride and the bridesmaids, but you don't often get memorable shots of the male side of the wedding shenanigans.

I'm not a photographer, although I have many friends who are, but I do know a bit about creating images that will work. I've run some photo-shoots for work purposes and had a clear idea of what I want the photos to end up looking like. Some photographers listen to you and some don't. Fortunately Matt had booked the former type - when I explained what I wanted, he knew exactly what I meant. (Personally, after working with many photographers, I would say that what sets the real pros apart from the rest, but that's just my opinion.)

Anyway, as I explained to the photographer, I wanted something reminiscent of this - probably one of the most iconic (if not the iconic) movie posters of the 1990s.

 That image of a group of suited and booted guys on their way to complete a job. (but perhaps looking a bit happier.)

(Amusingly, one of the groomsmen, Lauren's littlest brother, had no idea what we were talking about as Reservoir Dogs came out about ten years before he was born. Which didn't make me feel old at all...)

Anyway, it took a few shots, but we got there in the end.

Yeah. Nailed it.

Retrotechnophile

My Dad uses an old 35mm camera, and then has to take the film in to be developed. He likes to tell people about this. He says he's the last person using film in Shrewsbury.

Anyway, this cartoon really reminded me of him.