New Frock

It’s one of my rules – if there’s an event coming up, don’t go out shopping for The Frock.

The Frock is something you never find when you’re actually looking.

But unfortunately, I sometimes have giddy moments and break my own rules.

I had a few occasions to go to this summer and I thought maybe a new dress…

.

I prowled the internet.  Hopefully it’s the closest I’ll come to internet dating.  Many handsome frocks, but none of them looked like The Frock. 

Plus, I was pretty sure that when I tried them on, they wouldn’t look as thin and gorgeous as they did in their profile pictures.

A quick sweep of Monsoon (accomplished at a moment when Nigel was texting me ‘Where are you?’) had left me with a fleeting impression of a lace dress in flaming orange and hot pink.  It was the kind of dress that already seemed to have a red rose gripped between its teeth.

I didn’t have time to try it on.

On holiday, Carenza encouraged me to buy it. 

It looked good on.

And that should have been the happy ending.

But then I needed a jacket – it had to match either the hot pink or the orange – I found one in orange.

Then a clutch bag.  Hot pink!

Then shoes – something neutral.  But no, the ones that fitted best were rose gold.

I became afraid to look in the mirror – scared that peering back at me, I would see Grayson Perry.

I wore it all to Hannah & Joel’s wedding.  It certainly ensured that nobody could miss me -  the brightly-coloured woman three rows back who was trying to stifle a coughing fit during the vows.

But after all, at least when the dancing started, it made me feel young.

When Love Comes Full Circle

Around thirty-six years ago, Nick and Jenny met at Girton College. 

So did Nigel and I. 

On Saturday, Nick and Jenny’s lovely daughter Annwyn married Andrew whom she also met there.

The wedding took place amid the red brick and wooden panelling that is Girton, in such fine weather that the bluebells were beginning to bloom in the College grounds.

There was one person there who has been witness to all our love stories.  On the wall of the Great Hall, watching over dons and students, there hangs a portrait.  It is Emily Davies, a great feminist and suffragist and the founder of Girton, which was originally a women's college.

I’m sure that our various romances will have drawn only a wry smile from her, but hopefully Saturday’s wedding will have delighted her with its feminist improvements on the wedding traditions:

Emily Davies

The ceremony in Girton Chapel was presided over by Beth and Alison, two female clergy who are (like Nigel and I) godparents to Annwyn.

The bride and groom walked down the aisle together rather than having the patriarchal “giving away” of the bride.

The formal speeches were given even-handedly by men and women - by the groom’s father and the bride’s mother, by the best man and the chief bridesmaid and by the bride and the groom.

It was in fact Andrew in his speech who asked whether Emily Davies would have approved.  We all agreed with him that she most certainly would.

A green dress by Annabel was another innovation.

Annwyn's parents met here too.  And look pretty much exactly as they did then.