Final plans and
preparation – but was it all for nothing?
Saturday 11th
December: Schrodinger’s Wedding
Well, as the final
week before The Big Day begins, we are in a state of suspense, wondering
whether we will be able to go ahead with our plans after all. If Boris decides
to shut down entertainment venues from Saturday, the Reception at least will
have to be postponed, which means several guests will lose train fares and the
cost of hotel rooms. If Boris would make his announcement sooner rather than
later, we could make sure the florist and cake-maker and car hire and venue
decorators know in enough time for them to postpone their work.
If we
do have to cancel the Reception, P and I still intend to get married on 21
December 2021 if possible because we really want that date. It’s an easy date
to remember, for anniversary purposes (21/12/21), and is also the Winter
Solstice. So, it might end up with just P and me, plus two witnesses, in the
ceremony suite, and the party postponed for several months – by which time, of
course, the Christmas theme will no longer be relevant. There are carols on the
playlist and crackers for the table and the venue decorators are putting up
Christmassy trimmings, but that won’t have the same impact in April!
Anyway, at this moment in time,
I’m hoping for the best. Everyone at the wedding will be fully vaccinated
(except for the seven year old) and will have done a lateral-flow test the day
before, so I think the risk of the event becoming a ‘super-spreader’ is
limited.
Our top bedroom, where the Best
Woman will be sleeping in a week’s time, looks like this at the moment:
The Best Woman
reassures me that she doesn’t mind ‘a bit of mess’, but I think she’d draw the line
at stepping over pictures, pushing boxes and packaging out of bed, and
clambering over the hoover and half-wrapped Christmas presents when she wants
to use the toilet.
Due to my ‘fad’ for acrylic
painting, I decided to paint individual pictures for each guest and make them
into place-settings for the table. This has turned out to be much more
time-consuming and complicated than anticipated. The pictures themselves took
ages to paint, and I still haven’t painted them for one or two of the guests.
There are others whose paintings aren’t as good as they might have been because
they were completed early in the process when I’d had less practice, so I was
hoping I’d have time to do new ones for those people. Then, actually making
them into name-cards involved several false starts. The pictures were mostly
but not always small, but it soon became obvious that the original paintings
weren’t going to work so I ended up photographing them and printing off
electronic copies. The card I’d bought wasn’t strong enough, even with two
cards fastened together with blingy decorative tape, so I had to make them
smaller and add some thicker card between the two outer sheets. Then I had
problems with the glue not setting quickly and decorative elements such as
sequins sliding down the picture, and then the little ‘crystal’ stands wouldn’t
hold the cards so I had to put two on every card (and some still won’t stand
up!). A few days ago, I realized I didn’t have enough of these ‘crystal’ feet,
so I ordered some more from Amazon – they arrived two days later but I’d
ordered the wrong size and they were only half the size of the ones I needed!
I also had the idea of using the images to decorate gift tags for favour bags, crackers and the thank you gifts we had bought for the two witnesses, Best Woman and MC , and making these was also far more difficult than they are worth. I have enjoyed the bling-y tape, however – but it is so sticky that it adheres viciously to your fingers and you just can’t get it off without losing bits of skin!
I had the
over-ambitious idea of filling favour bags with miniature bottles of home-made
flavoured alcohol – sloe gin, pomegranate whisky, blackberry vodka, etc. Then I
realized I needed an alternative for teetollers so I made blueberry jam, and
bought chocolates, and a few small toys for the seven-year-old. At this moment
in time, I haven’t finished the place-settings, favour bags or gift tags, and
it is getting more stressful as the Big Day looms ever closer.
Sunday 12 December:
The Master expresses concerns!
The Master of
Ceremonies (hereinafter referred to as The Master) paid us a visit this morning
so he could try out the route from West Yorkshire to South Yorkshire ahead of the
Big Day itself. He normally travels here by train. P had given him his old
satnav and The Master kept ringing us to tell us it wasn’t working. Naturally,
we assumed it was simply his advancing years and technophobic tendencies that
were the problem, but it turned out it was actually the satnav. The Master was
right – it was buggered, as they say in West Yorkshire.
Anyway, he got here without
mishap. However, his first question was whether we had decided whether the
whole shebang was going ahead or not. Boris has ramped up the nation’s paranoia
about Covid while offering no mandatory solutions – just suggestions for behaviours
which will help to stop the spread if people follow them. The Master’s cousins, with whom he normally
spends Christmas, have cancelled their annual in-the-flesh get-together and
they are doing it by Zoom now, which has made The Master jittery.
Up to this moment, I hadn’t
seriously considered the idea that we might really postpone anything. However,
I said I would ask every guest what each of them thought.
Monday 13 December:
More Covid concerns!
Devon guests
emailed to say that, after giving it a lot of serious thought and discussion,
they had decided it wasn’t worth the risk. They felt that a five hour train
journey was bound to expose them to the virus which they might then bring to
the wedding and the other guests, and they were also concerned about infecting
their families and ruining Christmas. Kentish guests followed close behind with
very similar concerns – one is spending Christmas with her new-born great-grandson
(she is planning on spending the whole time staring devotedly into his gorgeous
little face) and didn’t want to pass on the virus to him and his parents.
By the end of the day, a further
six or seven potential guests had advised us to postpone the reception party
and two more out-of-town guests had decided not to risk it. Everyone seemed to
feel that the wedding ceremony itself would be no risk as it wouldn’t last long,
people would be wearing masks at least outside the ceremony suite, and it was
all well-ventilated, whereas the reception would last for several hours, involve
dancing and possibly singing, people getting close to each other to shout over
the noise of the music, some people would be drinking alcohol, the relatively
small room wouldn’t be well-ventilated in winter, and there would be venue
staff and people like the cake-maker, taxi drivers, the venue decorators etc
who might potentially bring the virus with them. There was also concern about
long train journeys.
Tuesday 14
December: Reception postponed!
We decided to
postpone the Reception.
Most
guests have greeted the news with either relief, agreement, sympathy or
resignation, except the two witnesses whose main reaction was indignation and
outrage. I think they just really wanted an opportunity to get drunk and have a
dance.
The
people at the venue were fantastic, immediately offering us a full refund and
booking the postponed Reception in for a provisional date next year. The venue
decorators have also been great, and are prepared to change the Christmassy
décor we had decided on, if necessary, with no extra charge, if we end up
holding the delayed reception earlier in the year. The cake maker had already
made the bottom, fruit-cake, tier of the wedding cake so she only gave us half
our money back, making this the most expensive fruit cake I have ever bought.
She did put marzipan and icing on it and a few icing snowflakes, however, and
it was a nice-tasting cake with LOTS of brandy in it. The car-hire company didn’t
offer us a refund even though we would require the car for less time than
originally specified, but we were past caring by this stage.
I
still have to complete the place-settings because I need to clear up the top
room as the Best Woman will be sleeping in there this time next week. She is
coming up from London. Working on them now feels like a chore rather than a
pleasure.
Here
is one completed place setting:
Friday 17 December:
Hair!
Hairdresser
coloured my hair and practiced a couple of up-dos. I have spent thirty years
avoiding hairdressers but this is the third time I’ve visited one in past six
months! It still feels faintly like going to the dentist, but there is no doubt
she knows what she’s doing.
The first pic below shows the
front and back of her efforts (and also reveals how much weight I’ve put on
over past few months as my face looks really chunky – and this is one of the
more flattering pics!!!). Still, you can see the hair, pearl earrings and
necklace, and pearl and gold-leaves hair-vine. The second pic is a cropped
version of a photo that shows the back of the hair-do with the hair-vine
twisted through it:
Sunday 19 December:
Wedding Cake and party favours (or lack-of-party-favours)
P and I spent all
afternoon driving round ‘local’ guests’ houses delivering pieces of wedding cake
and favour bags, as we couldn’t take them to the Town Hall with us. We drove as
far afield as Chesterfield and Penistone, Sheffield and Barnsley and Rotherham,
mostly in a thick fog, and we were exhausted by the end. [We later gave pieces
to hairdresser, florist and car-driver].
Here are a selection of the paintings I did for guests (I have removed guest names):
Monday 20 December: flowers, cards, presents, Best
Woman’s arrival!
P and I are growing very nervous about tomorrow,
although it also feels weirdly unreal. After living together since 1993, it
seems almost inconceivable that by this time tomorrow we’ll be a married
couple. I also felt quite down for most of the day about having to postpone the
reception.
Sis and partner dropped by on way to
stay at Niece’s house, and she gave me this card she’s made (it looks like a
box and when you take off the lid the sides open out to reveal a tiny cake
decorated with pearl beads – she runs a small business called Nic’s Crafty
Corner - https://www.facebook.com/nicscraftroom):
Best Woman arrived
a little later and P cooked us a nice meal. Best Woman made us feel much more
relaxed. She was really positive and practical – it felt like a grown-up was
taking charge, which was fantastic!
We didn’t really expect anyone to
buy us presents for the wedding, as we’ve been together for so long anyway, but
in fact we have received some lovely presents – a whole new set of high quality
saucepans, a sandwich toaster, three gorgeous vases, money, gift cards, the professional
photographer, a photo album, etc.
SO THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!
Tuesday 21 December:
THE BIG DAY!
When I got back
from the hairdresser’s with my hair up and the hair-vine threaded through, the
Best Woman and The Master were in the front room, which was handy as I couldn’t
decide whether to wear the ivory or the navy blue jacket – the unanimous
decision was the ivory one.
I had to re-do my make-up twice as
I stupidly decided to try out a new eyeshadow and ended up looking as if I had
two black eyes (I mean, who decides to experiment on the morning of her
wedding?), and then I poked myself in the eye with my mascara wand and made my
eye water, and smudged my lipstick, so I just washed it all off and started
again. I rarely wear
make-up these days but I have put it on thousands of times in the past, so I
think it was just pre-wedding jitters. I got my top caught up in my up-do, as
well, and it was only the admirable foresight of the hairdresser – who had
sprayed on so much heavy-duty hair-spray that it set like concrete – that saved
me from looking like Bellatrix Lestrange. Instead I looked like a short, fat,
middle-aged beachball with a nice hair-style. In the absence of hair that would
cover me from head to toe all the way round, like a Wookie or Dougal from The
Magic Roundabout, I figured the bridal bouquet would be the next best thing to help
cover some of my fatness.
P, The Best
Woman, The Master Me, in our living room
Some people might think that drinking
a bottle of Cava between us before the wedding-car arrived was a mistake,
particularly as our next door neighbours on both sides turned up with further
bottles of fizz and gifts and congratulations, but in fact it helped us relax.
We had hired a Nissan
Elgrande (with blue ribbons on the front, of course), simply because it was a
reasonable price and could seat four people comfortably. It turned up promptly
and the driver was absolutely lovely. He did take a peculiar route to the town
hall however – we expected him to drive the five mins up to the M1, up one
junction, and then take what is essentially one main road into the centre of
town, but instead he picked his way down some very tricky meandering country
lanes, narrowly avoiding oncoming vehicles, then down some small and windy
residential roads, narrowly avoiding parked cars. He obviously enjoyed mixing
things up and giving us our money’s-worth of scenery, as he took us home via
another unlikely route. When he dropped us off, he gave us yet another bottle
of fizz – our fridge looks like it belongs to two real party-animals!
Fortunately, The Master gave the driver a generous tip after P and I realised
we had no money on us at all – we had left the house relying on the kindness of
strangers, like Blanche Dubois and the Queen.
I
was wearing high heels for the first time in twenty years, and at first I was
happily surprised by how easily I could walk in them. It’s like riding a bike,
I thought to myself, smugly. You never lose the knack. True, I needed help
climbing into the Elgrande – hey, it’s not easy being short and fat and wearing
heels! Try it before you roll your eyes! But it wasn’t until about halfway
through the ceremony that my toes began to complain. By the time we strolled
(hobbled, in my case) out of the ceremony suite, I felt like ballet dancers
must feel every day of their professional careers – as if my toes were broken.
I fully expected to find them twisted into hideous deformities when I removed
the shoes, though actually they looked
completely normal later with no sign of maltreatment, despite the agony. When I
was young and wore high heels all day at work, and danced in them in night
clubs, my feet weren’t holding up so much excess fat, and my muscles were
stronger. I remember walking home in the early hours in heavy snow as a
teenager, with my friends, while wearing stilettos. Now I can barely stand in
them. I should have drunk more Cava before we set off!
It
was a freezing cold day but there was no rain. Some guests were waiting on the
steps of the town hall, in masks. To be honest, I kept forgetting to put my
mask on, though we were supposed to wear them inside the town hall, except for
in the actual ceremony suite. My problem was my bloody bag. It was a
champagne-coloured glittery clutch-bag that matched the shoes, but I didn’t
want to have to hold it in my hands along with the bouquet so I was using the
chain-link strap that came with it. However, the strap would not
stay on my shoulder – maybe I have unnaturally sloping shoulders or my clothes
were particularly slippery, but that bag was determined to fall off my shoulder
literally every few minutes. My mobile with its camera was inside the bag, but
every time I tried to get it out I found myself getting bouquet, bag and phone
entwined in a clumsy, comical fashion, and actually taking a photo was more or
less impossible. My mask was in there too, so every time I took it off for a
photo and tried to stuff it back into my bag, one-handed, as I was carrying the
bouquet in the other, I looked like I was performing an extremely poor-quality
juggling act.
Immediately after the
ceremony, the bag’s strap fell into a floral display in front of the
registrar’s table and became instantaneously entangled with the foliage. It
took three of us to untangle it, one being the assistant registrar. That was my
main Norman Wisdom moment. It was soon after that incident that, with a
resigned expression, the Best Woman patiently but forcibly took the bag off me
and carried it round, herself, for the rest of the time we were there.
We had been told to
arrive fifteen minutes before the ceremony began but we were waiting a long
time outside the ceremony suite, and then the guests were confused by an
announcement that referred to me as ‘Tracey’ – I am called Tracey Louise
Wilford but I have never been known as ‘Tracey’. Apparently, my father put that
name on my birth certificate while my mother was still in hospital recovering
from a difficult labour, but she hadn’t actually wanted me to be called
‘Tracey’ so she always called me ‘Louise’. Most of the guests had no idea who
this mysterious ‘Tracey’ was and they thought there must be a mistake.
I had told the
registrar about my name when we gave notice of our intention to marry, but she
obviously hadn’t taken the information in or written it down. The registrar was
a pleasant woman, very good-looking, but she was wearing a weird outfit – a
kind of ‘Where’s Wally?’ t-shirt top with a black smock-thing which buttoned
across her chest, over the top. It looked like the kind of outfit I might have
worn to university lectures in the 1980s, or maybe how Audrey Hepburn in
bohemian mode might have dressed in a film, while lounging about in a mock-up
of an artist’s studio. She looked very attractive in it but it didn’t seem
quite appropriate for her role as registrar. She did jer job very competently,
however.
Our Best Woman had paid
for a professional photographer as our wedding present and I’m glad she did
because most of the photos taken by friends and family weren’t all that good.
We haven’t yet seen the professional pics – the few I’ve put on here were taken
by us or by other guests. There were actually a good number of guests at the
wedding, despite the out-of-towners who had decided not to travel up north due
to Covid. Two of P’s schoolfriends and two of my schoolfriends were there, with
their partners; three of P’s work friends, plus four of his friends from
university; my mum, sister and her partner, niece and her partner, and seven
year old great-nephew; several other mutual friends. P’s mum had decided not to
come for various reasons including worrying about Covid, other health issues, a
large dose of Covid-related agoraphobia and paralysing shyness. I haven’t
included photos of guests beyond the central wedding party as I haven’t had
time to get their permission.
The photos seemed to go on and on until hypothermia was setting in, even though most of the guests were wearing coats. Oddly, I was wearing only two layers of flimsy chiffon-type stuff but I felt perfectly ok. I think the agony in my toes was distracting me from the frosty weather conditions. One of my friends has hurt her back and was using a walking stick, and I felt a strong inclination to rip it from her hands and let her take her chances while I hobbled off with it, but I resisted.
I hate having my photo taken. This
was actually the thing I’d been dreading most. I cannot smile naturally when
someone wants me to, and I usually look like I’m gurning, pissed off, deeply
depressed or giving an evil smirk, like Voldemort, in photos. I am just hoping
that the professional photographer got some better pics, because in all the
photos guests have sent me so far, I either look like the proverbial back end
of a bus or I am wearing an expression suggesting I am rethinking my decision
to get married.
Great-nephew, looking like Jacob Rees-Mogg (he actually looked lovely in his suit, though Niece
forgot the buttonholes we’d paid for and sent over to
her the night before!
The car dropped us
off back at the house, where I immediately changed into more comfy clothes and
particularly more comfy shoes. The original
plan had been that we would go to the reception straight after the wedding, and
then The Master and The Best Woman would sleep in our house while P and I spent
the night in a local hotel. Even though we weren’t going to have a reception,
the Best Woman would still have to stay at ours as she lives in London, so we
had decided to book a table at a local Indian restaurant called Thaal, which
meant that The Master would also stay at ours overnight as originally planned
so he could drink but not have to drive a long journey home afterwards.
We
were all so hyped up on adrenaline that we drank a further three bottles of
fizz, including one bottle of actual champagne – neither Philip nor I really
likes fizzy white wine, and I can’t honestly say that I would be able to tell
the proper champagne from the Prosecco or Cava, but it’s surprising how quickly
bubbles make you tipsy. By the time we set off for the Indian restaurant, the
Master, the Best Woman and I had reached that loud and giggly stage when you
feel as if you love everyone. None of us had eaten any lunch, which didn’t
help. P was driving so he couldn’t drink much, and we must have been quite
wearing for him. We arrived at Thaal in a state of giddy inebriation and it was
great, for once, to be the sort of people who get on other people’s nerves! The
restaurant wasn’t as full as it normally would be, but there were a good number
of people there, and we had an absolutely lovely meal which The Master paid for
which made it even more enjoyable!
Philip dropped The Master and The
Best Woman off at our house and we went on to the hotel we’d booked, which is
only fifteen minutes away from our house. It was peculiar staying in a hotel so
close to our house while other people stayed in our house, but the room
was non-refundable so we thought we might as well make use of it. Originally, I
had booked it because I knew I would find it irritating, after the reception,
when I was tired and consequently grumpy and anti-social, to have to keep remembering
to pull on a dressing gown every time I went on one of my frequent nocturnal
trips to the loo, in case I bumped into The Master or the Best Woman on the
landing – I usually sleep naked and I wouldn’t wish to give them nightmares.
The
hotel is a four-star Mercure Hotel with a pool and spa, but we had booked an
ordinary room and didn’t stay long-enough to make use of these facilities (we
didn’t even eat breakfast there, but joined The Master and Best Woman for a
hearty cooked breakfast in a local garden centre) – the room was spacious with
a huge TV and an excellent shower, however. P had to help me dig out the hair
grips from my hair and I washed my hair twice but failed to remove all the
hair-spray! I was awake all night, and not because of the usual reason
newly-weds stay awake all night. I think it was all the alcohol I’d consumed. I
felt completely sober by the time I went to bed, and P fell asleep quite
quickly, but I just couldn’t sleep at all.
Thursday 30
December 2021: After Effects!
The sleeplessness has
persisted over the past few weeks – both before the wedding and since – so I am
now walking around like a zombie with eyes like poached eggs and a head that
feels like it’s stuffed with bubble-wrap. I thought marriage was supposed to
improve your health, but both P and I have been excessively tired, aching and
lethargic since the 21st. We have done several lateral-flow tests which have
all been negative, so I am assuming it is just the stress of the months of
preparation, the actual wedding, and then Christmas. The fact that we have both
been eating virtually continuously since the wedding day and doing very little
exercise isn’t helping!
There is a degree of anti-climax,
of course, not least because we weren’t able to have the reception as planned.
However, to our knowledge, no one has contracted Covid as a result of the
wedding ceremony. Ironically, several of the out-of-town guests who decided not
to risk the journey have ended up having to isolate themselves over Christmas
after members of their families contracted the virus, but people who were there
all seem fine. It is just the way the cards fall, I guess, and I believe we all
made the right call.
Our
Best Woman told me that she felt different when she married her husband (they
had lived together prior to getting married, though not for thirty years like
us!), and she is right. We both feel a little different, though it is very difficult
to describe or explain. This has actually taken us both by surprise as we didn’t
expect to feel any different after the ceremony than we did before, having been
together for so long.
Neither of us is used to wearing
rings of any kind and we are both finding it slightly irritating. We have both
had mini-scares when we have taken our rings off in order to wash the pots or
take a shower, then forgotten where we put them!
I am considering changing my name
by Deed Poll to get rid of the vestigial ‘Tracey’ and keep ‘Wilford’ as my
official middle name, but I can’t face the bureaucratic hassle at the moment.
P’s mum viewed our attendance at
the Town Hall as being on a similar level of terror-inducing danger as an
extreme sport such as snowboarding in polar-bear territory or walking a
tight-rope over a tank of piranhas. Her response when P rang her after the deed
was done was to say ‘Oh, thank goodness it’s over!’. This wasn’t quite the
response we were hoping for, but there you go. She did send us a Christmas card
to ‘Mr and Mrs Badger, from The Old Mrs Badger’ however, which was sweet.
My own mum sent us a card after the ceremony congratulating us on being married. She wrote: 'Your wedding ceremony was lovely and Louise looked beautiful especially her head'. I suspect she meant ‘her hair’, but ‘her head’ is so much better, don’t you think?
So, from me – and my head:
HAPPY 2022!
And I promise not to mention the wedding again until we have the postponed reception, if and when that happens!
Playlist:
The playlist is
finished. It took me weeks to decide on the final list of tracks, and I had
many fabulous suggestions from people in the OU Write Club and several other
groups I belong to on Facebook, plus ideas from family and friends. So, thanks,
guys! We are saving it for whenever the reception does take place.
The
final list is massively long and I doubt that anyone will stay at the reception
long enough to hear it all – the songs become increasingly random towards the
end! We start with an hour of gentle romantic 1950s songs, including ‘True Love
Ways’, ‘La Mer’ and ‘All The Way’ – they aren’t all 1950s performers, however,
though Sinatra and Holly feature. This segues into a range of songs from 1960s
to present day, mostly slow romantic ones during the meal and then becoming
more lively and danceable. I’ve tried to include tracks that I know different
guests might like. For instance, there is some Adele for my mum, some
Nickelback for my seven-year-old great-nephew, some Pink and Shania Twain for
my sister, Mary Hopkins singing a Christmas carol in Welsh for the Welsh guest,
etc. Everything is something that either myself, P or both of us like, except
maybe Abba as neither of us are fans but we don’t hate them either and they are
always a crowd-pleaser! My guilty pleasure (‘Witchita Lineman’ by Glen Campbell)
and my favourite romantic song (‘You do something to me’ by Paul Weller) are
both there. I have snuck in Elvis Costello, The Jam, The Clash – but all quite
mainstream tracks. There’s some Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel for P, and a smattering
of our favourite Christmas tracks – ‘Stop The Cavalry’, ‘Fairytale of New
York’, Mahalia Jackson singing ‘O Holy Night’.
In case
you want to see the entire playlist, here it is:
|
No of
track on playlist |
SONG |
ARTIST |
TIME |
CUMULATIVE
TIME |
NOTES |
|
1 |
True Love
Ways |
Buddy Holly |
2.53 |
|
Start at
5:00 [ish] Milling-about
music – background – mostly 50s songs, some sung by modern artists Segueing into
60s stuff – trying to represent our favourite artists and musical genres but
saving more lively dance numbers for later A few more
lively ones here and there to change pace |
|
2 |
La Mer |
Tatiana
Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band (from album April in Paris) |
3.29 |
6.22 |
|
|
3 |
All The Way –
remastered |
Frank Sinatra
(from Ultimate Sinatra album) |
2.52 |
9.14 |
|
|
4 |
It had to be you
(Big Band and Vocals) |
Harry Connick
Junior (from music for When Harry Met Sally album) |
2.38 |
11.52 |
|
|
5 |
At Last |
Etta James |
3.00 |
14.52 |
|
|
6 |
Let It Be Me
(remastered) |
The Everly
Brothers |
2.38 |
17.30 |
|
|
7 |
La Vie En
Rose |
Emily Watts
(or the version by Jolie Mome, or by Zaz) |
2.38 |
20.8 |
|
|
8 |
The Way You
Look Tonight |
Michael Buble |
4.40 |
24.48 |
|
|
9 |
The Best Is
Yet To Come |
James Darren
(from This One’s From The Heart album) |
2.28 |
25.16 |
|
|
10 |
They can’t
take that away from me |
Ella
Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong |
4.40 |
29.56 |
|
|
11 |
Here Comes
The Sun (remastered) |
The Beatles
(from remastered version of Abbey Road) |
3.06 |
33.4 |
|
|
12 |
Waterloo
Sunset |
The Kinks |
3.19 |
36.23 |
|
|
13 |
All My Loving
(remastered) |
The Beatles
(from remastered With The Beatles album) |
2.08 |
38.31 |
|
|
14 |
You Never Can
Tell |
Chuck Berry
(From St Louis To Liverpool album) |
2.42 |
41.13 |
|
|
15 |
Rescue Me |
Fontella Bass |
2.51 |
44.6 |
|
|
16 |
Delilah |
Tom Jones |
3.24 |
47.30 |
|
|
17 |
I only want
to be with you |
Dusty
Springfield |
2.38 |
50.8 |
|
|
18 |
Ain’t No
Sunshine |
Bill Withers |
2.05 |
52.13 |
|
|
19 |
Dedicated To
The One I Love |
Mamas and
Papas |
2.58 |
55.11 |
|
|
20 |
Wichita
Lineman |
Glen Campbell |
3.07 |
58.18 |
Approx.
6:00 Meal
served about this time Move through
different eras and genres, but generally slow-ish songs to form background to
meal Approx.
7.00 Approx
7.30 SPEECHES
ROUND THIS POINT – HALF AN HOUR? |
|
21 |
Handle With
Care |
Travelling
Wilburys |
3.19 |
61.34 |
|
|
22 |
Love Is The
Drug |
Roxy Music |
4.11 |
65.45 |
|
|
23 |
She Makes My
Day |
Robert Palmer |
4.22 |
70.7 [1 hour 17
mins] |
|
|
24 |
You do
something to me |
Paul Weller |
3.38 |
73.45 |
|
|
25 |
Late In The
Evening |
Paul Simon |
4.02 |
77,57 |
|
|
26 |
The angels
(wear my red shoes) |
Elvis
Costello |
2.47 |
80.44 |
|
|
27 |
Somewhere
only we know |
Lily Allen
version |
3.28 |
84.12 |
|
|
28 |
Make You Feel
My Love |
Adele |
3.32 |
87.44 |
|
|
29 |
English Rose |
The Jam |
2.49 |
90.33 |
|
|
30 |
Use Somebody |
Kings Of Leon |
3.51 |
94.24 |
|
|
31 |
One Day Like
This |
Elbow |
6.34 |
100.58 [1 hour, 41
mins] |
|
|
32 |
Cloudbusting |
Kate Bush |
5.10 |
106.8 |
|
|
33 |
Bright Side
of the Road |
Van Morrison |
3.46 |
109,54 |
|
|
34 |
London
Calling |
The Clash |
3.20 |
113.14 |
|
|
35 |
Scarborough
Fair/Canticle |
Simon and
Garfunkel |
3.10 |
116.24 |
|
|
36 |
Come up and
see me (make me smile) |
Steve Harley
and Cockney Rebel |
3.59 |
120.23 |
|
|
37 |
O Holy Night |
Mahalia
Jackson |
3.32 |
123.55 [2 hours, 4
mins |
|
|
38 |
The First
Time That Ever I Saw Your Face |
Roberta Flack |
4.20 |
128.154 |
|
|
39 |
I’ll Stand By
You |
The
Pretenders |
3.59 |
132.1 |
|
|
40 |
Say Hello,
Wave Goodbye |
Marc Almond,
Jools Holland |
4.34 |
136.35 |
|
|
41 |
Heroes |
David Bowie
(2017 remaster) |
6.11 |
142.46 |
|
|
42 |
Mad World |
Tears For
Fears |
3.35 |
146.21 |
|
|
43 |
Stop The
Cavalry |
Jonah Lewie |
3.01 |
149.22 [2 hours, 29
mins |
|
|
44 |
Get It On |
T.Rex |
4.23 |
153.45 |
8:00
roughly Start with
some upbeat, feelgood stuff |
|
45 |
A Message To
You Rudy |
The Specials |
2.53 |
174.38 |
|
|
46 |
Planet Earth
(2010 remastered) |
Duran Duran86 |
4.03 |
178.41 |
|
|
47 |
The Tide Is
High (remastered) |
Blondie |
4.40 |
183.21 |
|
|
48 |
Groove is in
the heart |
Deelite |
3.52 |
187.13 |
|
|
49 |
Rockstar |
Nickelback |
4.12 |
191.25 |
|
|
50 |
So What? |
Pink |
3.35 |
195 |
|
|
51 |
Dancing In
The Streets |
Martha
Reeves and the Vandellas |
2.45 |
197.45 |
|
|
52 |
Valerie |
Amy
Winehouse/Mark Ronson |
3.39 |
201.24 |
|
|
53 |
Take me out |
Franz
Ferdinand |
3.57 |
205.21 |
|
|
54 |
Ruby |
Kaiser Chiefs |
3.24 |
208.45 |
|
|
55 |
I bet you
look good on the dancefloor |
Arctic
Monkeys |
2.57 |
211.42 |
|
|
56 |
Mr Brightside |
The Killers |
3.43 |
215.25 |
|
|
57 |
Common People |
Pulp |
5.52 |
321.17 |
|
|
58 |
Park Life |
Blur |
3.07 |
324.24 |
|
|
59 |
Wonderwall
(remastered) |
Oasis |
4.19 |
328.43 |
|
|
60 |
It must be
love |
Madness |
3.20 |
332.3 |
|
|
61 |
Love Shack |
B52s |
2.12 |
334.15 |
9.00
roughly |
|
62 |
Time Warp |
|
|
|
|
|
63 |
That don’t
impress me much |
Shania Twain |
3.39 |
337.54 |
|
|
64 |
All Over The
World |
ELO |
4.03 |
341,57 |
|
|
65 |
You Sexy
Thing |
Hot Chocolate |
4.05 |
346.2 |
|
|
66 |
Cecilia |
Simon and
Garfunkel |
2.55 |
348.57 |
|
|
67 |
I’m a
Believer |
The Monkees |
2.47 |
351.44 |
|
|
68 |
Twist and
Shout [2009 remastered] |
The Beatles |
2.35 |
354.19 |
|
|
69 |
Happy Hour |
The
Housemartins |
2.25 |
356.44 |
|
|
70 |
Tubthumping |
Chumbawumba |
4.39 |
361.23 |
|
|
71 |
Fairytale of
New York |
The Pogues |
4.32 |
365,55 |
|
|
72 |
Me and Julio
Down By The Schoolyard |
Paul Simon |
2.55 |
368.50 |
9.30
roughly |
|
73 |
Come on
Eileen |
Dexy’s
Midnight Runners |
4.47 |
373.37 |
|
|
74 |
You Make Me
Feel |
Bronski Beat |
3.56 |
377.33 |
|
|
75 |
A Little
Respect |
Erasure |
3.28 |
381.1 |
|
|
76 |
Dancing Queen |
Abba |
3.50 |
384.51 |
|
|
77 |
Praise You |
Fatboy Slim |
5.24 |
390.15 |
|
|
78 |
Disco Inferno |
The Trammps |
3.34 |
393.49 |
|
|
79 |
Hey Ya |
Outkast |
3.55 |
397.44 |
10.00
roughly |
|
80 |
Vogue |
Madonna |
5.17 |
402.1 |
|
|
81 |
Billy Jean |
Michael
Jackson |
4.54 |
406.55 |
|
|
82 |
Girls just
wanna have fun |
Cyndi Lauper |
3.45 |
410.40 |
|
|
83 |
Come as you are |
Nirvana |
3.39 |
414.19 |
|
|
84 |
U can’t touch
this |
MCHammer |
4.17 |
418.36 |
|
|
85 |
You’re my
best friend |
Queen |
2.51 |
421.27 |
|
|
86 |
Shake It Off |
Taylor Swift |
3.39 |
425.6 |
|
|
87 |
You can’t
hurry love |
The Supremes |
2.46 |
427.52 |
10.30
roughly |
|
88 |
River Deep,
Mountain High |
Ike and Tina
Turner |
3.35 |
431.27 |
|
|
89 |
Tears Of A
Clown |
Smokey
Robinson |
3.02 |
434.29 |
|
|
90 |
Whisky in the
jar |
Thin Lizzie,
Derek Varnals |
5.45 |
440.14 |
|
|
91 |
Jailhouse
Rock |
Elvis Presley |
2.26 |
442.40 |
|
|
92 |
Handbags
& Gladrags |
Rod Stewart |
4.25 |
447.5 |
|
|
93 |
Subterranean
Homesick Blues |
Bob Dylan |
2.21 |
449.26 |
|
|
94 |
Pump It Up |
Elvis
Costello and The Attractions |
3.18 |
452.44 |
|
|
95 |
I fought the
law |
The Clash |
2.43 |
455.27 |
|
|
96 |
The Eton
Rifles |
The Jam |
3.58 |
459.25 |
11.00
roughly |
|
97 |
Shipbuilding |
Elvis
Costello and The Attractions |
4.53 |
464.18 |
|
|
98 |
Ziggy
Stardust |
David Bowie |
3.13 |
467.31 |
|
|
99 |
The Sound of
Silence |
Simon and
Garfunkel |
3.05 |
470.36 |
|
|
100 |
All along the
watchtower |
Jimi Hendrix |
4.01 |
474.37 |
|
|
101 |
A Change is
gonna come |
Sam Cooke |
3.11 |
477.48 |
|
|
102 |
Silent Night |
Annie Lennox |
3.49 |
481.37 |
|
|
103 |
Joy To The
World |
Celtic Woman |
3.30 |
485.7 |
11.30
roughly |
