Today was an experience for me.
Having met a few members of the other halfs side of the family at his mums 50th birthday party a year or so ago, i got an idea of the sort of thing we were up against.
Now my own family are very down to earth, working class, what i would consider to be normal members of society. We have normal jobs, drive normal cars and live a pretty average life.
The other half's family however, are not your average bunch.
For one thing they are incredibly rich. Each one of them has a very high powered, well paying job and the way they conduct themselves, their accents, clothes and cars all make no secret of this.
The other half couldnt be more different. His mum is an accountant, a pretty good job, but she married beneath her class to a working class man from Newcastle.
This marriage didnt last and they are now divorced but the other half and his brothers are your usual sort of people and do not take after their mothers side.
So fast forward to today. The other halfs cousin got married yesterday and we hadnt been invited. Instead, we had been invited to todays 'do' which was reception number two that began at 12pm.
The dress was smart-casual since it wasnt as grand as the affair of the previous day so after some conflicts of opinion over what was 'too' casual and a serious shoe malfunction resulting in me dashing into town on the way there to pray that Shoe Zone had some replacement sandals for two of my girls (they had! thank god) we were on our way, late as usual.
When we arrived we could see the marquee from a mile away. Bang in the middle of a quaint country village, smack dab in the middle of a large field we parked up and waited for the other half's mum to escort us in.
We even had a carpet path leading us up to the entrance!
After a bout of air kissing (on both cheeks if you please!) we stood around for a while at the free! bar which was something none of us had come across before, watched a little airshow outside, cracked a few jokes about how i was scannning the room for a rich eligible bachelor that would sweep me off my feet princess style and give me the life i was always destined for.. and then went in for the hog roast buffet.
We were served by the hired caterers that addressed us as sir and madam and were given meagre portions. Of course it would be far too rude to return to the buffet once the plate was cleared so you tried to make what was on your plate last as long as possible.
After the food was over we were subjected to more very forced, posh and polite conversation from distant relatives while the girls played with very posh distant cousins with far more impeccable manners than they possessed, and then it was deemed that we'd been there long enough to have made a good effort and could leave for home as it was just over an hour away (the girs have school tomorrow of course!).
As soon as we were out of there and back at the car, a collective sigh of relief was breathed and everyone returned to normal.
On the journey home we then all slept in the car exhausted from sitting around for the afternoon making very polite conversation with people whose worlds would usually never collide with ours and were home before we knew it.
Having met a few members of the other halfs side of the family at his mums 50th birthday party a year or so ago, i got an idea of the sort of thing we were up against.
Now my own family are very down to earth, working class, what i would consider to be normal members of society. We have normal jobs, drive normal cars and live a pretty average life.
The other half's family however, are not your average bunch.
For one thing they are incredibly rich. Each one of them has a very high powered, well paying job and the way they conduct themselves, their accents, clothes and cars all make no secret of this.
The other half couldnt be more different. His mum is an accountant, a pretty good job, but she married beneath her class to a working class man from Newcastle.
This marriage didnt last and they are now divorced but the other half and his brothers are your usual sort of people and do not take after their mothers side.
So fast forward to today. The other halfs cousin got married yesterday and we hadnt been invited. Instead, we had been invited to todays 'do' which was reception number two that began at 12pm.
The dress was smart-casual since it wasnt as grand as the affair of the previous day so after some conflicts of opinion over what was 'too' casual and a serious shoe malfunction resulting in me dashing into town on the way there to pray that Shoe Zone had some replacement sandals for two of my girls (they had! thank god) we were on our way, late as usual.
When we arrived we could see the marquee from a mile away. Bang in the middle of a quaint country village, smack dab in the middle of a large field we parked up and waited for the other half's mum to escort us in.
We even had a carpet path leading us up to the entrance!
After a bout of air kissing (on both cheeks if you please!) we stood around for a while at the free! bar which was something none of us had come across before, watched a little airshow outside, cracked a few jokes about how i was scannning the room for a rich eligible bachelor that would sweep me off my feet princess style and give me the life i was always destined for.. and then went in for the hog roast buffet.
We were served by the hired caterers that addressed us as sir and madam and were given meagre portions. Of course it would be far too rude to return to the buffet once the plate was cleared so you tried to make what was on your plate last as long as possible.
After the food was over we were subjected to more very forced, posh and polite conversation from distant relatives while the girls played with very posh distant cousins with far more impeccable manners than they possessed, and then it was deemed that we'd been there long enough to have made a good effort and could leave for home as it was just over an hour away (the girs have school tomorrow of course!).
As soon as we were out of there and back at the car, a collective sigh of relief was breathed and everyone returned to normal.
On the journey home we then all slept in the car exhausted from sitting around for the afternoon making very polite conversation with people whose worlds would usually never collide with ours and were home before we knew it.
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