The First Station (for some)...

Saturday (just gone – 8^th May 2010) was the Wedding of my friends Emma and Richard. And beautiful it was too... not just from the visual perspective but from the overwhelming knowledge of social and human symbol and ritual when two human beings make this commitment in front of their friends and families – knowing that it is a very fraught voyage their little boat sets off on through the oceans of life and that barely half make it to the other shore. The Wedding was in St Michael's in Collins Street in the city of Melbourne. It was my job to dress the Jag in white ribbons and get Emma to the church on time (we made it with minutes to spare). Then I rushed in the side door to join the angels of the choir – who were looking simply spectacular for the day – and who sang RIVER, RIVER (Kavisha Mazzella) & MAGNIFICENCE (Miten) as well as we have ever sung. The ceremony was conducted by Dr Francis McNabb (which is a nod to Emma and her father connections because Francis doesn't really DO weddings any more- for those of a therapeutic persuasion Francis was of the cohort of R.D. Lang who I once heard speak in this very church). The choir angel S who often accompanies me places cried like a drain through the ceremony ( I always cry at weddings she was heard to say as we ventured into the afternoon of the next day).

The reception was – well – an Australian wedding reception – Different on some counts – because of Emma's profession (she is a Barrister, Mediator and Family Law Arbitrator) it was heavily populated by lawyers; it was marked for its sincerity (partly because – I think – of the maturity of the marital decision by Emma and Richard) and partly because of the setting of the Melbourne Bowls Club – set itself in the Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne. Has it been a long time since I was inside a bowls club or is this one particularly luxurious species of the animal? And I actually met a lawyer who could talk about something other than law and judges and expressed some interest in the little novel when completed. Finally I drove the actually happy couple to their final destination for the day. They had impressively kept themselves nice through the entire event; driving by Melbourne's now Paris like river by the evening into dawn lighting was a little bit magic.