Blog number 2, and I've finally got some photos to share of the wedding for which I was best man on April 8.. so this'll be the main focus of this blog (all the girls will be particularly pleased!)

Harry is a great friend of mine and we spent a lot of time together at Edinburgh University in 2000-2001, and stayed in touch ever since. He's an enthusiastic, positive and Godly guy, who met his (now wife) Sarah on the plains of Tanzania while Scottish dancing!

They got married in a beautiful service in Sarah's home town between Durham and Newcastle. The weather was amazing - it was literally four seasons in one day, and when the bridal party arrived, massive snow flakes were falling! Sarah had always wanted to have a white wedding... The Bible reading was also particularly appropriate - part way through the Bible reading, the congregation started laughing, because Psalm 148:8 was so appropriate (you'll have to check it out yourself).

Being the best man, I had charge of the rings, and as a surprise I covered the box in bright green fur and showed it to the whole congregation, some who were amused, while the rest were undoubtably bemused. Harry is a bit of a clown (he does juggling and rides a unicycle for kids parties) and he has a box also covered in brightly coloured fur with all his juggling gear in it. He thought the ring stunt was brilliant.

I was quite nervous in the lead-up to the best man speech, particularly since there were 176 guests, I was the 3rd and final speaker, and it was in a huge hall with no microphones and I had a sore throat and had been recovering from a cold that week. It ended up going really well, got plenty of laughs, and a lot of positive feedback. I presented Sarah with a massive wooden spoon to use on Harry if he's naughty - Harry used to get hit on the bum with a wooden spoon if he was naughty, but his mum kept on breaking them on his backside!

The whole event, with the family dinner on the night before and the bucks night before that, made it a very tiring affair, but it was all worthwhile. The happy couple were in Paris for one night before travelling to Tunisia for 10 days. They're happily settled down in Exeter, but still haven't used the BBQ I got them as a wedding present...

In other news, I have been working as part of the river engineering team at the consulting engineering company 'Carl Bro' on a flood prevention scheme. I finished the draft report at 4:55pm on Friday, which was a big relief! From next week, I will be working on secondment for Scottish Water for 2-3 months near Edinburgh, which will mean an extra 2.5 hours travel each day (at the moment, I live right next door to work). I'll be working in a team of six, determining what implications a new European Union water directive has for the use of water in Scotland. It sounds like very interesting work.

The photo above shows a group of friends that I had over for dinner. It includes my flatmate Mike, my friend Peter (who a knew from Edinburgh Uni 5 years ago), two of Peter's flatmates and another friend. By the way, all of them (apart from Mike) tried my cooking, and they're all still alive to tell the tale. Peter has been sick for the last week or so, but I'm sure it's unrelated...!

My flatmate Mike and I have been getting along well. We're meeting a lot of each other's friends and introducing each other to new things (he now knows a bit more about cricket, and I've been able to see some of the more scenic parts of Glasgow with him). He's an Aberdonian, but he's breaking the mould of their traditionally cold receptions...

I don't think I'll buy a car while I'm here, so I've been getting around by bicycle most of the time. I bought this bicycle new for £140 and it has been a well-used investment. I've already cycled to Edinburgh from Glasgow (all 60 miles) along the canal, which was amazing. Since then, I have invested in some bike pants, because the last couple of hours were agony!! I have explored quite a bit of Glasgow, and I'm planning to cycle north to Loch Lomond on Thursday night after work. It should take about 3 hours, but since the sun doesn't set until about 10pm, I should still have plenty of time to see the scenery in daylight.

Today I went with Mike and his friend Jo just north of Glasgow, to Mugdock Country Park and we had a beautiful day exploring the historic ruins of two castles - Craigend Castle used to be a zoo that suffered from 4 years of poor weather, forcing it to shut and go into disrepair! Mugdock Castle was the second most important castle in Scotland in the 17th Century behind Stirling Castle, but it is now just a shell of its former self. On the way, I managed to get friendly with some highland cows, and clamber alongside some of the kids on the obstacle course. True to the Aussie reputation, I showed no shame... or fear!