In order to facilitate flexibility in terms of both alcohol consumption and departure time, I drove dad in Mum's car, while Ernest followed behind with Lydia and mother. The event was held at the Mill Arms pub in Dunbridge near Romsey, where a large function room had been hired, along with a DJ who played incessant loud music throughout the evening. Most of the family were in attendance and it was lovely to be able to catch up and have a laugh with everyone in bouyant mood. Both bride and groom looked splendid, as did everyone who had made a special effort for the occasion. There was plenty of crisps, cake and coke around which kept me lively at the start, though in contrast to booze-filled relatives who gradually took to the dancefloor as the evening progressed, I felt pretty drained towards the end of the evening and was glad to make our way home at around 11.30. No doubting, however, that we had all enjoyed an excellent evening out as a family.
This morning, having dragged myself out of bed after only 6 hours' sleep, I popped round the church to help Holy Smoke with tidying out 'our' cupboard, which was essentially full of junk. This included used flipcharts, dried out pens and, worst of all, badly out of date food, all of which was hastily disposed of. Helen and James arrived to help, along with their children, whose biggest contribution turned out to be pelting me and others with plastic balls and car sponges whilst running in and out of the room, accompanied by a large amount of screaming. Despite the noise and the mess, we had a good time going through plenty of items which rekindled old memories and it was satisfying to finish up with a clean cupboard ready for the next phase in church youth work with Andy.
Next up, Matt and I had plotted an epic cycle ride around the New Forest so, praying that the weather would hold, we set out towards Lyndhurst via Beaulieu. Neither of us had before used or even been aware of the forest's many cycle paths, which turned out to be well signposted and maintained. Unfortunately, it was on one of the said paths that my back wheel developed a puncture, and with no pump and repair kit, our only option was divert to Brockenhurst and a cycle shop to get it repaired. This section of the ride was very unpleasant, as riding on a flat produced an almost unbearable amount of vibration and Matt very kindly offered to swap bikes as we neared Brock to spare me from the torturous transport. After handing over £10.50 to repair the puncture, we headed to Tesco to get some lunch and found a bench on which to eat and recover ready for the next stage of the ride.
We still wanted to head for Lyndhurst, so rejoined the cycle route and, despite some rather nasty uphill sections, reached our destination in less than an hour. By this point the day was very pleasant, with many other riders having the same idea and plenty of tourists roaming the countryside. We had both worked up quite a sweat, though a health-conscious Matt (who had previously devoured a 1000-calorie pasty in Brockenhurst) chose to skip the offer of an ice cream before we found another bench and took a 20-minute breather before embarking on the final stage of the ride.
Back on the cycle paths, we muddled our way along using both the increasingly sweat-drenched map and a certain amount of guesswork before finding ourselves on the main road leading home. A few more shallow hill climbs coupled with some rapid descents and it wasn't too long before our invigorating 5-hour, 29-mile ride was at an end. Feeling shattered but satisfied, I made for home, where I felt I was long overdue some chill time. With everyone else out, speaker volumes were raised and the net was surfed for a good couple of hours.
Just time for a quick shower then it was off out again to pick Matt up in Jalopy for a trip to the pub. The 'two Mikes' were supposed to be joining us but had to pull out, so instead Ernest joined us, having spent the whole day at a garden railway show. We enjoyed the first round in the 'beer garden' (children's play area), then Ern went to collect Lydia and we had a good couple of hours and several more rounds indoors, where topics discussed with much mirth included maths, annoying parents and - inevitably - breasts. Ern took Lydia home at 11 and I dropped Matt off, with plans for further outings tomorrow.
And - having said that, it is now tomorrow! Oops! Well, at least I started before midnight!
It has been a great and very memorable 4th JEDI day. More of the same on day 5 please! See you tomorrow folks!
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