Such is Life: Sunday September 12th 2010

Written by a 63 year old female retired teacher/writer living in Hendon London NW4.

Written on September 12th 2010.

Such is Life: Sunday September 12th 2010

On the day after the ninth anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attack on the New York World Trade Centre by Islamic al Qaeda terrorists, and a week before Pope Benedict comes to Britain to apologise for child abuse by priests and to beatify Cardinal Newman a 19th century convert from Anglicism to Catholicism, we don’t go to Church.

If I’m honest, we don’t go very often, except to please Grandma. It is not that we have succumbed to the pressures of ‘aggressive secularism’ or been shaken by the, thankfully empty, threats of Pastor Wannabe Koran Burner Terry Jones. It’s just that visiting daughter, fiancé, the best man and his girlfriend are unexpectedly coming to lunch and we need to go shopping. We nip off to the local London supermarket, which legally can only stay open on Sunday for a maximum of six hours, in this case between 11a.m. and 5p.m. It’s crowded with the people who work all week and have no other time to shop.

We quickly get what we need and rush home to produce a speedy but tasty stir fry and rice followed by a ready made cheesecake and healthy fruit salad. There’s no time for roast beef and all the trimmings plus home baked apple crumble today. Such is life in 2010. The wedding’s going to be in a barn in Shropshire in January 2011 so we’re taking out wedding insurance. The only thing it doesn’t cover is the couple falling out. We don’t expect this to happen; they’ve been devoted for years. We just don’t share their faith in the weather, considering that most of UK in January 2010, when they were melting in Australia, was in the grip of snowy gridlock.

There will be no church input, as they want no hypocrisy or insincerity. We respect their wishes, though Grandma will be none too pleased. The groom had impressed us immensely by hiring a car, driving for two hours after work and asking for our daughter’s hand in marriage. We’re delighted that this still happens. And we’re delighted that the best man and his girl have arrived with a gift of produce from their own garden.

We discuss bridesmaids, matching ties and kerchiefs for the key men and a reading about a dinosaur and a lovely other dinosaur who loves shopping. The two dinosaurs grow old together still loving each other, thus proving that there’s hope for the future yet. I wonder what Grandma will think.

The best man, a teacher, has to rush off to prepare for Monday while the bride and groom to be have to rush off back to Shropshire. So here we are, in suburbia, with a wedding list to tick off the RSVPs and some bills to pay. Sunday is over bar the clearing up with just enough time to unwind with ‘Who do you Think You Are?’ on BBC1 TV. Such is life in 2010. *