Poros and Portmarnock

We can now reveal that Diamond has got married to the main man John W on Poros Island in Greece back a couple of Thursdays ago, on the 6th. Of course we knew this was going on but we were sworn to secrecy. We have just been up to Portmarnock, Co.Dublin to collect Mum back from her 10 days in Greece supporting Diamond as "koumbara" (a combination of Lady in Waiting, Chief Bridesmaid and Sponsor in the Greek Ceremony, even in the 'Civilian Version'.

Anyone who knows Diamond will know that she takes almost every 'foreign' holiday on this same Island and has done ever since she was a 27 year old and was taken there by her Mum. She is so regular that she seems to now know everyone on the Island and is like family to many of them. She never sits in the ordinary touristy bits of cafés, but is always gathered up and taken to where the family eat. Most of the guys who are now café owners, she has bounced on her knee in nappies when their Fathers owned the place and many of the men she knew back then are now ancient and venerable or have passed away. One old girl living up in the hills in among the lemon groves is blind and still being looked after up there by her 84 year old Brother in Law. (Please correct me on this Diamond if I have any of it howlingly wrong)

 Mum has been there for the last few years with Diamond and was introduced around as Diamond's best friend, so is now also accepted and John W more recently. It's probably true to say that Diamond has more and closer friends on Poros than she does in the UK and certainly there are more 'out there' who she'd choose to have present on such a special occasion. So it was almost a 'given' that when Diamond accepted John's proposal, that the Ceremony would take place on Poros. The happy couple had to do a load of official stuff in the UK first, to obtain permission to do the deed in Greece but, that done, they booked flights and let the locals know what was going on. Mum flew out on Tuesday 4th, with Dad driving her to the airport in Dublin. We live 20 minutes from Knock Airport but there were no cheap flights to be had to Athens, so Dublin it was and the 5 hour round trip for Dad

Since then, of course, we have been holding the fort here while all the wedding plans were coming to fruition in the Med. Amusingly we had the job here too of 'sharing' the story including the attached picture of the cake. The locals do not really do English, and their alphabet is, anyway, the Greek one which doesn't use use the ABC but rather the Alpha to Omega, "Bicameral" script, derived from Cyrillic (said this dog, quoting widely from Wikipedia) so we were amused by their use of the 'b' instead of 'd' in the cake icing. Happy Webbing, Diamond and John!

And so, home came Mum and we were off to collect her from Portmarnock. She'd got into Dublin Airport in the middle of the night, so Steak Lady had collected her and given her a bed for the rest of the night. Our job had been to collect her the following morning, driving up from here via a nice leg stretch and walk along Portmarnock Beach. Steak Lady fed Mum and Dad with a superb roast chicken dinner with salmon pasta starter and a goodly cheese board. There was loads of chicken left over so we dogs (myself and the 3 Yorkies, Rosie, Tutenkhamen and Rameses) piled in.

Now we're all home and Mum says she feels like she's "First Day Back at School" going mad cleaning and blitzing. No reflection, she says, on the way Dad has looked after the place while she's been gone..... We are not so sure.

Deefs