Friday 20th August 1971 - A Second Chance At Happiness

Wedding Anne and John Duncan

Well the happy couple got a lovely day for their wedding. 

It was a fantastic hot 'n sunny summer's day perhaps the best of the summer. 

We all had the day off school to get the house and ourselves ready. 

It was ironic that I ended up being within a stone's throw of Boroughmuir as the ceremony was held up at Bruntsfield Registrar's Office on Bruntsfield Place. I could even have popped into school for the morning and the Globey for a wee supper! 

The wedding ceremony went very well with a nice sized wee wedding party there to watch and support. We were all turned out in our finest. Mum looked very classy and suitably stylish with her outfit and the big hat setting it all off; John looked smart in his sailor's uniform accompanied by his best man Ted similarly attired. Anne wore a white dress; Iain was in an old suit of mine; I wore the grey number of the two suits that Gaga had bought for me from Burtons the Tailors. 

We all headed back to 6/2 Oxgangs Avenue for the reception. 

It was pitched pretty perfectly. Nana had stayed back from the ceremony to over-see it. It was a nice wee celebration - low key but quite classy in its way. There were lots of lovely summer salads 'n puddings as well as drink too. I reckon there hadn’t been so much liquor in the house since the old boy was at the top of his game! Gaga isn’t really a drinker and with the occasion and excitement he was drunk pretty quickly. Nana wasn’t impressed and he was soon carted off to bed to sleep it off! 

John's best man Ted is a nice bloke and a good laugh; his daughter is gorgeous and I found it difficult to take my eye off her all day. 

By tea-time Mum 'n John had left for a wee meal out before going off to Waverley Station for the London sleeper and then to Portsmouth for the honeymoon. Meanwhile our wee party slowly faded away to a gradual conclusion as the summer afternoon and evening ebbed and the sun began to disappear. Nana and the three of us washed and tidied up; poor Gaga was still out for the count; they're (Nana 'n Gaga) staying overnight to look after us. 

The day has been a great success; it's not often that 6/2 Oxgangs Avenue seems to be at the heart of the universe but today it was; it went as well in fact better than any of us could have hoped for. We all had a bit part to play - a very different exciting and memorable day. 

It's a late summer's evening now with a certain timelessness to it all; a bit like the recent school summer holidays - at one level you don’t really want it to end but it's now reached its natural conclusion and I'm off to bed.

Note to Self: Remember To Switch Off Gas!