This weekend was spent back at the old college, for Speedo's wedding. Great wedding, great party, but it's funny to see how we've all moved on since we were there as students. One of our old mates from college was one of the two vicars presiding over the service in the college chapel and sounded more like John the Baptist than an old drinking buddy. Well, to be fair, the Rev'd King started out very vicarly, but came back down to earth with a few gags in his address, and we all got back into the swing with a few drinks at the reception. It's good to see that many of us now have beautiful girlfriends, which wasn't the case for most of our time at college. Well, maybe some people were getting there towards the end. But there were a few false starts, eh lads...? And this despite the fact that of course we're all getting fatter and balder. So heaven knows how we managed it. Although when I was 15, I was present when a mate's Mum consoled her son who was being self-deprecating about his chances of pulling at a forthcoming house-party, enlightening us that while when girls are young they go for the good-looking, exciting, sons-of-bitches, once they grow up a little, they usually want to settle down with steady, sensible, responsible, considerate chaps like "you two". Which made us feel great, I can tell you - "once your future wife has finished shagging a long succession of Marcus Tandy-alikes and doing coke on the back of a motorcycle with Axel Rose, she'll be glad to slow it down a little for a middle-age and retirement with someone who recognises the importance of prudent financial management and the virtues of gardening as a weekend recreational activity". Of course, Mum didn't know about all the drugs and joy-riding we were doing at the time, so perhaps it was a projected 'sensible' for her own piece of mind. Nor at the time did I realise the implied comment that was being made about my mate's Dad, who was an accountant or something, or my mate's Mum's wild youth. Because when you're 15, you don't think like that... Either way, whatever the explanation for how we've managed to end up with these girls, there's nothing like a wedding, with stunning bride and handsome groom (well, stunning bride and our mate Jim, anyway...) to give rise to a certain tension in the atmosphere surrounding those couples who've been going out for more than about 3 years. This atmospheric disturbance was in fact so intense surrounding certain couples that I suspect that it brought about a meteorological change and was responsible for precipitating the thunderstorm that drenched me the day after the wedding while I was playing pitch and putt. Which is why weather is such a worry at weddings, especially the first few weddings in any particular group of friends. Now Jim and Helen get to go to Tuscany for a fortnight on honeymoon, while we all get to go back to work. So maybe there's something in this marriage lark after all... Seriously, I shouldn't jest... congratulations to the happy couple, and good luck to all the lads still holding the line (just kidding, ladies...).