Off to Europe

 After two days at home and with Penny's help I am flying to London.

This year the motivating event is the wedding of my neice Helen to her partner Simi on my sisters farm near Canterbury. Before this I will stay at the Reform Club in London to get over jet lag, then travel to Cambridge to stay with Penny's brother Nick and meet up with daughter Sarah and granddaughter Madeleine near Cambridge. After staying at my sisters farm with for a week I fly to Portugal to spend a few days in Porto and then return to the UK.  

Since some devastating news on Saturday 19th August (see next post) I will be in the UK for a funeral before returning to Victoria. 

Here is the remarkable history of the two people, Helen and Simi, who are getting married on September 2nd. 

​"We met on the dance floor ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿผ 6 years ago and it might sound super cheesy, but it really was love ❤️ at first sight! After a 2nd date dinner in Brixton Market, we realised we were made for each other, both with a huge curiosity for life and our amazing planet ๐ŸŒŽ. We took quite a bold and out of character step for the both of us in eloping to Paris for a romantic ๐Ÿ’— few days together the very next weekend!

Ever since then, we have held down stressful London jobs but also led a pretty adventurous life together - exploring the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง and Simi's native Lithuania ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡น on our bikes ๐Ÿšฒ ,on foot ๐Ÿฅพ and on paddleboards ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿผ‍♂️; and also travelling the world ๐ŸŒ together. We've explored ancient civilizations in Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, visited Medina in Saudi Arabia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ; paddle boarded down part of the Mississippi River ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, tandem biked the Camino de Santiago ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ; hiked across the highlands of Iceland ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ, Scotland ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ and Lebanon ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ง; volunteered with refugee charities in Calais and London; experienced Ashram life ๐Ÿง˜๐Ÿฝ in India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ; and have enjoyed many more shorter (and often foolhardy) adventures locally - plus we have countless more planned for our future together!

 

Simi proposed while we were on a run around an extinct volcano๐ŸŒ‹ in Saudi Arabia, getting down on one knee amongst the lava with only desert ๐ŸŒตand camels ๐Ÿช around for 100s of miles. As it is a dry ๐Ÿฅ‚country (in every sense!) where being gay ๐Ÿณ️‍๐ŸŒˆ is illegal, we weren't able to tell anyone or celebrate until we got home (and recovered from a particularly exotic Saudi version of Covid ๐Ÿฆ !!) 

 

Along our journey together we have made many wonderful friends, and we are overjoyed that so many of you, along with our beloved family members, are planning on joining us for OUR BIG DAY at Helen's family's beautiful farm in Kent! "


In Canada same sex marriage was made legal on July 20th 2005. Here in British Columbia the Anglican Church provides same sex marriage services. In Britain same sex marriages became legal in March 2014 - only nine years ago. The Anglican Church in Britain does not provide same sex marriage services. Niece Helen and her family have attended Anglican services at the local parish church since she was a young child but her request to be married in an Anglican Church were denied.  


As a result of the devastating news the big party has been cancelled but Helen and Simi are having a civil wedding at a registry office in Canterbury followed by a dinner for all the family members who will be there including eleven of us from Canada.

​

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