Nuptial Blogging and other adventures

It's hard to believe eight months of this year have already flown by. I really need to get a grip!Look, here's proof of New year Kiwi fireworks and snow ... and a little daftness:

New Year ... better late than never right?! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

For those of you with the time and inclination there are various photos I took of the Isle of Man in Winter here

The cornucopia of adventures I am able to share with you this Blogging session is overwhelmingly bountiful! It might be that we separate the adventuresome nature of my life into easily digestible nuggets but I have to start somewhere and where best to begin than on a high point.

The most fun filled and exciting adventure of my life – so far – happened on February 13th at Gretna Green, where Bob and I finally took the plunge and tied the knot! Jo and Mike – now my step-daughter and son-in-law!- were our only guests and witnesses. We stayed at a favourite place of ours in Troutbeck near Windermere in the Lake District, an hour away from Gretna - The Queens Head - where we enjoyed amazing hospitality, sumptuous accommodation and fabulous food. A few weeks before our great big nuptial adventure, the country had been gripped by a snowstorm frenzy and many roads, villages and towns were seriously cut-off and though much of the seriousness had lessened, we wondered if we'd be able to a) get to the hotel at all and then b) drive to Gretna and back without being snowed under!


Thankfully everything went even better than planned and it was a joyous and delightful occasion. Lucky for us Jo and Mike did a brilliant job of capturing the whole event in a mass of lovely photos and Flip video which I am very happy to share here with you. Don't worry … you don't have to watch HOURS of it just a modestly edited version which lasts all of 10 minutes – I promise it will make you laugh out loud … really! ;-)

Bob and Christine's great big Nuptial adventure! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

You can view photos here

At the same time as planning our small but perfectly formed nuptials, Bob's wonderful artist Corinne Bailey Rae was launching her second and truly masterful album “The Sea”. So Bob was ridiculously busy right up to the event itself and immediately after. It all added to the excitement and was our excuse to “honeymoon” in Paris where CBR and her band were performing for promotional purposes in the city centre the following Tuesday afternoon.


We flew to Paris on Sunday evening Feb 14th (oh hang on isn't that Valentine's day?!) and stayed near The Champs Elysee. Though I managed to get food poisoning that night and felt less than wonderful the following day we still had a marvelous time. I made a valiant effort and rallied late Monday afternoon, so we braved the vagaries of the ridiculously complicated Metro system and the bitter bone-numbing cold, to view the Eiffel tower ... well that was our intention. The queues were far too long to stay out in the freezing temperatures the length of time it would take to actually get in a lift, so we carried on walking and ended up at the Louvre which was just shutting as we arrived!

Tuesday was glorious and though still cold, was a much lovelier day. We viewed Notre Dame in the morning and meandered through beautiful Parisienne streets to finally meet up with CBR at her appearance in a city centre music store. We were met with a flurry of applause and congratulations from herself, band members and the crew. Ah.

Gay Paris - a brief Honymoon for the newly weds! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bob and I returned to the UK in style on board Eurostar and managed to get a great deal including a 3 course meal in first class - oo la la! Oh we know how to do things right. The whole experience, from the Lake District to Gretna Green to Paris and back was truly wonderful, memorable and joyously lovely. We are blessed!

Corinne's album was receiving amazing reviews around the globe and there were many trips to the USA, Europe and the UK purely promoting the album's release which Bob was often a part of. So I didn't see my husband (ha, ha, ha!) very much the first month of our marriage. We've made up for it since! Once the bulk of promotional tv/radio/etc was done, work began on touring proper … and so to the first few CBR shows which I was privileged to see.

Leeds was March 27th and a wholly exciting affair with a full house totally enraptured by Corinne's beautiful and mesmerising performance. At one point a guy shouted from the back … I think I have to change my opinion of you … you might be a genius!We don't know what his opinion had been before that comment of course but I agree with him! This album is full of genius moments of inspiration.

We skipped the gig in Edinburgh to spend a day with our lovely friends Diane and Bryan Ansell so we could celebrate our nuptials once again,in high style at their beautiful home, before catching up with CBR in Leamington Spa.

From there we flew to LA and took up honeymooning where Paris left off … but this time no food poisoning! I think I'll stop this first batch of memories with the first CBR show in LA; a wonderful concert for KCRW in a fabulous old Church called Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles.

CBR at Vibiana downtown LA for KCRW from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

I'll continue with our amazing American adventures very soon … watch this space! It's still possible to watch the full KCRW internet broadcast here - well worth it!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again in a week or so with more musings on my fairytale life ;-)

Much love

Mrs Christine Collister Miller XX ;-)