Today is the first weekend I have had this year where I am not rushing around slightly manically, getting organised with various things for events/occasions that are happening in 2014.
As some who are Facebook friends will know - this year is pretty full of several BIG events. Christenings, weddings, BIG birthdays etc., and also a few weekends that Greg and I had planned away.
We should have been in Cornwall this weekend but, due to the inclement weather, we decided not to go. So I find myself with a long weekend and have been making the most of it ....... but equally reflecting on the things still needed to be done for the MAIN event for my family this year ...... Gina's wedding.
We need to get the dress adjusted, we have it - and it is beautiful - we just need to check the fitting ........... does the veil go with it OK, have we got the "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" ..... and then my mind wandered back to the old Wedding Shop in Tavistock Street, Bedford, over 25 years ago ...................
Our second home was the "New Inn" pub, I could walk in alone and be assured of a welcome grin, chat and often a drink provided by our very own group of guys who resembled the "Cheers" group. DJW and the B was always there, Dave, Trevor, several names I have long forgotten - and the landlord and landlady - Brian and Gill.
We (Mark, me, Steve and Nikki) were friends with Brian and Gill's daughter, Jayne and, with her boyfriend (whose name escapes me), Dave, Vicky, Caroline and Phil, Mick and Sharon, we formed a group that often went on pub crawls (the girls separated from the boys meeting up at the end of a night) and just generally doing what 18 - 21 year olds should be doing ..... having a blast !!!
At the end of one of our nights, we decided to all head off to Mick and Sharon's to carry on the party. We were actually not that drunk on this occasion and someone (probably Steve) challenged the others to a piggy back race .... yes ......seriously ..... a piggy back race !
I jumped onto Mark's back and thought we would have it licked, as Mark was stronger than he looked and I was only about 7 stone in those days !
In fact - we DID have it licked - we were in the lead - and then Steve decided that he was gonna "take us down" .......... and literally did exactly that - bashed right into us with Nikki on his back.
The force pushed both Mark and I straight into the Wedding Shop window ........ the glass smashed in and we fell into the shop display ...........
Now at that point I was really not thinking straight - I had a few drinks inside me anyway but, as I was giggling and being pulled out of the window by Nikki and Jayne, I had not realised the gravity of the situation.
Thankfully, someone else had (probably Steve) because as I turned round Steve grabbed Mark and pulled him out of the window - just as a precarious shard of glass fell from the top of the window ... smashing to where Mark had just been laying!
That was the first part .........
Then, as alarms started going off and sirens could be heard, it became obvious to all the others that ......we should RUN !!!
Nope - not me - I was a tad naive ...
"It's OK - we'll just explain what happened, I'm sure they will understand ........" I was adamant this was the "right" thing to do !
As I stood there waiting to explain this to the Police the others started running and thankfully Nikki grabbed me and just shouted RUN in my ear !
Of course now I know that life is not that simple and we would have been charged with drunk and disorderly at the very least, probably criminal damage and/or any other thing they could pin on us (Nope - we did not take any of the wedding dresses LOL)
So we ran .......... and as the sirens got closer and closer, we ran to the multi-storey car park ..... and scattered.
Looking back it must have been like a Benny Hill clip. Running to each concrete pillar to hide and then within a few seconds running to the next one as the police cars (yes I think there were at least 2 of them) chased us into the car park.
The girls all joined up in the ladies loo at some point (where I discovered that I had cut my hand on the glass) and stayed quietly for some time - trying hard not to giggle at our situation.
Then - after a while and not hearing any car engines, so being fairly sure the police had gone ....we heard a shout ... and an echo ...
"U OK?" - from somewhere on floor 3
"Yeah - think have they gone" - from the left side of floor 2
"Where are you" - from the right side of floor 1.......and so it continued - disjointed voices echoing through the car park at midnight ....
That was it - the girls collapsed in fits of giggles as the boys re-grouped from their distant, various hideouts !
It was fun. And kind of naive, innocent fun too. The sort of thing that kids can't do these days as the town is heaving with people, Security, Bouncers and Police on any night, even after midnight as there is no "11 o'clock closing time" ... and pubs just aren't the same in town any more.
Yes ... the Wedding Shop survived - they boarded it up but pretty quickly had a new window fitted and none of the dresses in the display had been damaged as they were still there the next week.
But we all have a story to tell ..... and nights like that strengthen a friendship and allow us to occasionally reminisce - about those glory days .......
