I must be getting into things as I'm beginning to see the web of relationships between all the people I meet. I saw the bride's mother at the video shop yesterday, and the other bloke behind the counter was the bride's brother in law (yes...a terrifying memory I hear you say).
Well, the terrifying memory got a big work-out as I had to assist with directions again. Helen has no problems with the directions to Paphos but the irregular layout causes some heart-stopping moments. It was going to be too long a day if we went to the "dressing of the bride" so we caught up with everyone at the church. Soulla was not really expecting us to get their unaided and the whole thing was complicated by her not having any charge in her phone. Well a curious thing is happening..now that Helen has to drive everywhere on her own, she is developing a sense of the roads. We got as far as the far reaches of Kato Paphos before we stopped to ask locals for the direction to the church. Luckilly (or not) for us, we found a taxi station. I felt sure we were in safe hands. From the car I could see there was lot of nodding and notetaking, but when Helen got back to the car, things seemed less promising. The taxi driver was a foreigner with an exotic line in directions. "go right at Alexander (is that street or hotel???), the right on until Mcdonalds, then up (???) until the Crazie (???), until just behind" . Well, miracle of miracles, we found the street, Maccas, a steep, winding road and the "Grazie" Italian Restaurant...and even more miraculously, a car parking spot in what looked like Noosa's main street at rush hour.
When we arrived, the whole road as strewn with guests who were spilling out of the most lovely church perched impossibly high on the hilltop. It was so perfect, it looked like a Hollywood set. One of Soulla's lovely nieces was on lookout for us and rushed us down to the front row.
The wedding was a joyous, noisy affair made even more chaotic by Helen's many introductions of me to the extensive network of friends. It went a little like this: "this is little Soulla's sister in law, big Soulla, and this is her husband, who lives in Kew in Melbourne. The family are in the rag trade, but also made a mint during the Sydney Olympics when they went north to develop property. They are in Cyprus now to set up a state of the art tyre recycling operation, like their plant in Australia. By the way, the husband is also the president of the Melbourne Cyprian community". This was one of the many such introductions I got. Soon my head was spinning.
The bride and groom emerged from the church to a riotous wecome of baloons, silver confetti and the roar of a dozen Harley Davidsons (???) at full throttle. Why...it appears that the groom has a great love of them and his motor cycling friends wanted to escort him from the church to the hotel where the reception was to be held, in a motorcade. If it wasn't noisy enough already, it became even more so as the wedding merc (a brand new black shiny job, with a huge spray of asiatic lillies attached to the bonnet) proceeded down the hill blasting its horn, only to be followed by a couple of me=toos doing the same.
Soulla whisked us off to her apartment for a drink and an opportunity to rest our feet for an hour or so, before we piled back into the cars for the trip to the hotel. When I saw the hotel, I suddenly felt a bit underdressed. maybe the black sparkly job was agood idea after all. It was an imposing 5 star affair, and the extensive palm lawn outdoor areas around the pool were set aside for the meet and greet. The tradition is that hundreds (yes, literally) are invited to the greeting with extensive drinks and nibbles for a couple of hours, then there is a sit-down meal for maybe "only" 300 or so. Everyone brings an "envelope" and this helps the couple to buy their house. It is normal to get many thousands of pounds, but Helen whispered that they have had the odd groom take off with the cash and abandon the bride at the reception.
The bridal couple led in the procession and cut the cake on the japanese style bridge that spanned a massive pool. They then decamped to the other side and for the next two hours, shook the hands and received the good wishes of who knows how many hundreds of people. It was a wonderful, warm, velvety night and with the whole poolside gardens lit by candles and tinkling music filling the air, it was a magical affair
Of course this was just the beginning, as we were invited to the wedding celebrations proper, and as we entered the ballroom, found ourselves seated at a top table, right in front of the wedding table. I think that Soulla has as many lovely friends as Helen, and they made us feel very welcome. It seems that everyone is connected to us by relatives, or the Australian/ Melbourne connection an even with my hamfisted and sparce greek, were happy to regail me with their stories and ask us to drop in for a visit. It's very welcoming place but this constant round of meeting and greeting can be exhausting. It must be impossible to keep any kind of secret in a place like this. Everyone knows what is happening to everyone..the good, the bad and the ugly.
It was midnight before we left for the trip back to Lemesos. the party was still in full swing, with some highly exhuberant dancing both on the floor and on some tables, as we sneaked out. Helen had more staying power than me, but I was feeling like a very wilted Lily..and we had to think of resting before the mnimosino and visit to Uncle Andrew's for a big family get-together on Sunday. Life is just one long party.
Helen steered us home through the dark faultlessly (well, there was one small diversion as we missed a turn as we came out of Kato Paphos and "chucked a yewie" at some lights with a no U turn sign, only to face back where we had come and find a police car pulling over some other driver. gratefully they were too busy with him to bother with us). It's spooky driving on a near empty freeway at night, but Helen is not fazed by it and we were soon home. Bed, bed...please!!!
Its sunday morning now and the sun is beginning its climb over the hills that I can see from my bedroom. I can just hear the bells from a nearby church calling people to worship.
Well, that was saturday. love to all. Keep you posted. lily
