The Bucks Weekend

The Bucks night was a weekend of skiing and partying at Perisher and Jindabyne. The function started with party revellers converging on The Station Friday night. I picked up Welberry from the airport around 1815 and went on to meet John Nichols and Tim Lennon (Jacqui's brother) to head off in convoy. A few hours later around 20 minutes from the Station we get a report phoned in from Phil that there are Latino belly dancers at the pub and to hurry up, 15 minutes later we arrive to check in but on the way to reception we got side tracked to the bar by the sound of South American music. We were just going to pop in for a night cap before bed, afterall we did have a big day of skiing and partying ahead of us. We arrived at the pub to meet Phil and co and just in time to see the "tail end" of the Latino dancers - that was the live entertainment we had arranged for Chris and he wasn't even there to see it! A short while later the Fun Bus with Thorp et al on board arrived from Sydney, somehow there was the right combination of factors and the party started, three hours later the "security staff" (more on this later) asked us to leave and it was back to the rooms for some bedroom beers...

Up at 0630 for a medicinal bacon and eggs brekky and off the snow fields. We were on the slope around 0830 and had a top day skiing, all lifts operating, plenty of sunshine and friends. The exercise and fresh air facilitated a speedy recovery for everyone. Chris was in his element and as happy as a pig in mud.

Considering the lack of sleep most observers were predicting a short lived evening, not necessarily quite but short - WRONG. As Landos pointed out, the tired mental state is often a precursor to a huge night as the mind is capable of the most irrational decisions. The night started out with a few jugs of ale up at Perisher in the late afternoon, the group then drove back down to Jindabyne to shower and clean up. It was then into Chris's room for some pre dinner drinks , shortly afterwards we went to the restaurant for some cook your own meat. Once that formality was out of the way it was back down to the rooms for a brief speech from Phil, a video of Chris from when he was a rock and roll star in Hawaii. Phil also bought down Chris's first guitar and he cranked out some old time songs and smooth manoeuvres (Chris came millimetres from knocking himself out on the rafters as he jumped from bed to bed playing the guitar).

It was then back up to the pub for a few night caps and games of pool. Chris and Phil managed to let other people lose at pool hours. The band was excellent ("Super Hereos"?) and the night finished off very well (again with the "security staff" asking us to leave). Unfortunately Chris's jacket was missing and he politely asked the Security Guard to check behind the bar to see if anyone had "handed it in". Apparently the staff member didn't check and didn't get back to Chris about the jacket, Chris then started to query why he had " S - E - C - U - R - I - T - Y" written in big letters on his back, then he started to get upset with Chris's attitude and off handedly said "Look I'm sorry about your jacket" as he was closing and locking the door on Chris - "SINCERITY - there you go, that's another thing you can add to your resume!!!" the wrath of Chris Thorp at its best. At this point steam started coming out of his ears. We took Chris back for some commiseration VB shotguns (delivered by Welberry). No sense of humour those Security Guards. We awoke in the morning to find that we had had a few over night visitors, one of which was a nice girl from the pub.

Due to a combination of exhaustion and other things, skiing had to take a raincheck on Sunday for most of the group. The die hards (Landos and Thorp) were back out there, but I wasn't one of them. The weekend party was good, usually at a single night party you don't get to catch up with everyone but over the course of the weekend you can spend some time with most people. Well organised Phil.

The Wedding

A slightly more classy affair was the wedding which went off without a hitch. The proceedings started at 1430 at the Chapel of Jacqui's old school. The crowds were professionally ushered in by Master Nicholls and Master Brajua and inside the Chapel was a nervous Chris Thorp.

After an appropriate amount of time Jacqui arrived and was escorted down the isle by her Mum and Dad, she looked beautiful ! The ceremony went smoothly and had some memorable symbollism, especially with the two candles being used to light a new third candle.

After the ceremony people spent time catching up outside the chapel and the happy couple went off for some photographs. By the time everyone worked out what they were doing it was time to head to the reception at the Armoury at Watson's Bay. The location was sensational, with a spectacular view of the Sydney skyline as the sun went down along with the beers and hors-douvres.

The venue was decorated in a blue maritime type of theme, all the tables were number one (in different languages) and each table had a big glass bowl with gold fish in them. I still can't believe nobody ate one. Tim Lennon did a great job as Master of Ceremonies and started proceedings. The food was great, I particularly liked the idea of one good set menu, that way everyone gets the same good food (you start to notice things like this when you have the big W looming).

The speeches were spread between courses and they were interesting and varied. Jacqui's dad told a good story about Jacqui getting lost when she was a small and the relief he felt when she was found and that it is now Chris's job to look after Jacqui. Mr Thorp lightened up the mood with some particularly humourous words about the life of Chris and Jacqui. Phil did a good job with the best mans speech, it is good to see two brothers who are also good friends. There were some telegrams read out from friends who unfortunately couldn't make it (Neil and Kim) and some tributes to Chris from his friends ("My Mate Thorp" from Matt was a good one).

Chris did a great job of his speech, he briefly thanked all the appropriate people and then sang a song about getting married to Jacqui that he had written - the girls loved it!

Soon after the bridal waltz happened and the dance floor opened, who said discotheques were out of fashion? It was soon time for the happy couple to depart via water taxi to the their hotel. The party goers dispersed and with a few of us heading into town for a few beers at the Civic pub.

The next day was a relaxed BBQ around at Chris and Jacqui's new house. Thanks for the weekend.