Tag Archives: Disaster

What Happens When your Wedding Becomes a Disaster By Catherine Balavage.

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wedding planning, wedding, weddings,There are many things that a bride wants her fiancé to say to her on the morning of their wedding, but ‘I don’t think I can get married today’ is not one of them, but that is what my husband said to me. Now it was not a complete surprise. We had spent the night in A&E, only getting back home at 4am. We then went to bed and I tried to sleep despite the growing anxiety inside of me. I had no idea if the wedding I had spent over a year planning would go ahead. It was not just the thought of not getting married and letting all of our guests down: we had also spent a fortune on deposits and alcohol. It seemed there was no going back now. If we did not get married today then I had no idea when it would be possible again. 

My parents were full of smiles as I went to get some breakfast. My mother asked if I was excited to be getting married today, I had to hold back the tears as I said to her that I was not sure that I would be. I went back into the room to check on my fiancé and he was in a lot of pain. In the end the stress got too much and I actually fainted. Cue a comedy moment where my fiancé yelled for my father while I lay on the carpet, face down, saying ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, just give me a minute’. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t then. 

My fiancé had been ill the day before our wedding and it had got progressively worse. A combination of some dodgy food and having two stag parties the weekend before the wedding, which I had explicitly told him NOT to do, but no one listened to me. All brides-to-be listen to me: do not allow your fiancé to have the stag do anywhere near your actual wedding date.

I calmly told him that we should get married today and that he had it in him. He still seemed unsure so I called for an emergency doctors appointment. Luckily the receptionist was sympathetic and I got an appointment. The doctor seemed shocked when we said it was our wedding day and prescribed some medication to help my fiancé to get through the next few hours. We called the best man to come along to our flat to help my fiancé get ready and pep him up. Our maid of honour was amazing and called the venue and told them that the groom was ill and to keep water on hand. The next couple of hours were hell. At no moment did I know whether or not I was actually going to get married. The only option I had was to keep as calm as possible, get ready and make sure my fiancé had everything he needed. 

The flat was full of people which helped. My family were there, as were my bridesmaids, the wedding photographer, the best man and his girlfriend. I had to stay calm and keep in control. If I didn’t there would be no wedding. The make up artist arrived and did everyone’s make-up and we got ready. Very slowly the start of the wedding crept forward and it was time for my fiancé to head to the venue which, thankfully, was very close. 

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Credit: Holly Thomas

My father drove him to the venue but before he left he told me to not be late or he was not sure that the wedding could go ahead. Cue more panic. I was determined to not be late but my father took longer than me to get ready and then the make-up artist decided she wanted to go to the bathroom as we were about to leave. I could have screamed. Everything seemed to be against us.

I was wearing my wedding dress, veil and tiara. I was all dressed up for this particular event but still unsure if I would end the day a married woman. At this point I got quite firm with people and we headed to the venue. As I stood outside the door of the room we were to get married in I was so relieved. ‘I am nervous’ I said to my father. I felt like a blender had gone off inside of me. I was so near and I just wanted to marry the love of my life. 

Finally we were announced. I walked in and there he was: my fiancé had been sitting in a chair but when he saw me he stood up and smiled at me. I will never forget the look on his face, nor the rush of love I felt when I looked at him. In the end we did get married, but my (now) husband was in a lot of pain and after the wedding breakfast we headed back to A&E. My husband then spent five days in hospital. We missed our mini moon and our reception. I look back on my wedding day with both happiness and pain. It was both one of the worst days of my life, yet it had its own joy and special memories. Bookmarked with A&E visits and missed opportunity, I would love to do it all again properly, especially as my poor husband feels like he missed his own wedding. But the important thing is that we got married. We spent the days after our wedding apart and have still not managed to go on our honeymoon six years later. Initially that was because we had some amazing news not long after our wedding: I was pregnant with our first child. I was worried the stress might have upset the baby but our son is a tough one. We had our daughter two years later. Our seventh anniversary is in July and we are as happy as ever. So it was not a disaster after all. 

The other good thing that came out of this is my wedding book which I wrote to help other couples avoid disaster. You can buy my wedding planning book here.

 

Bowe Bergdahl And Robert Bergdahl Are A Disaster For Obama But He Can Recover

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A lot has been said about the video of Bowe Bergdahl’s father praising Allah at the White House. Frankly, most of it is wrong. Obama was not smiling. Anyone who knows body language and looks at the video will see that, actually, that was a grimace. President was also obviously angry, he knew how much political damage had just been done to him. I don’t know who is advising Obama at the moment, or why he let five terrorists go for one man but whoever is advising him needs to either be fired or given the worst job in politics somewhere far away from the President to make a strong point. American Ambassador of Outer Mongolia or Siberia sounds good.

I don’t know if Obama knew what the Arabic meant at the time, but he knew it was enough to damage him in the eyes of his enemies, most of whom constantly try to make the President out as not a true American.

Robert Bergdahl said at the press conference of his son’s release, “Bism allah alrahman alraheem,” which translates from Arabic to English as “in the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.” It is said before every chapter in the Koran except the 9th (the chapter of the sword). The level of stupidity in quoting the Koran at the White House, even more than ten years after 9/11 is insurmountable. Not to mention insensitive. He may have meant it in a well-meaning way, but it was not that he spoke in Arabic, it was the praise of Allah, the same Allah whose name the pilots flew into the World Trade Centre for. The beard didn’t help. Robert Bergdahl grew it out of ‘solidarity’ for his captured son but we live in a visual world. How things look matter, and it looks bad.

Bowe Bergdahl allegedly left a note saying he wanted to renounce his citizenship before he went AWOL. Then six American soldiers lost their lives trying to rescue him from the Taliban. This is the biggest crisis of Obama’s career and the shades of Homeland (incidentally one of the President’s favourite shows) does not help. The President did not know what Robert Bergdahl was going to say, and he clearly didn’t like what he did say. No man left behind is very American. Even if the man is controversial and not liked within the armed forces because of his desertion.

To rub salt into the wound, the Taliban have released a video of the release of Bowe Bergdahl. Despite all of this, I believe the President can still recover. He just needs to surround himself with the right people.

What do you think?

 

Flight Film Review

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You may think that Flight is an air disaster movie, but you would be wrong. It is a film about addiction and consequence, but do not let that put you off. This dazzling and adult film from Robert Zemeckis is a punchy, entertaining and thrilling look into the life of Whip Whitaker, a pilot who is introduced to us in the opening scene in a hotel room with empty bottles, cigarette butts, a naked women and cocaine. The cocaine he then snorts because he is working that day and has to go and fly a plane.

The role of Whit Whitaker is played by Denzel Washington, and, boy, does he go for it. Washington really is one of the best actors that we have. He is just excellence personified. As the pilot that can fly better when high and drunk than other pilots can do sober, his charisma makes you like him, even when he is pressing his self destruct button over and over again. His character’s arrogance is beautifully played by Washington, ‘Nobody could’ve landed that plane like I did.’ An investigation is launched into the crash and the people surrounding Whit are trying to get him off, but is he?

John Goodman’s drug dealer is always underscored on entrance to a Rolling Stones tracks and the supporting cast are all first class. Kelly Reilly is also very good as a drug addict who Washington tries to save.

I loved this film. An entertaining, adult look into addiction and people trying to connect with each other. Go see.

Does the packaging in your bin annoy you?

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Does the packaging in your bin annoy you?

Packaging is funny stuff. No-one goes out to buy it; they go to buy the things inside. And by the time you get it home, and remove (or use up) the contents of the pack, it has worked quite hard.

But most of what it does is invisible to consumers. We don’t see products stacked meters high in warehouses, stacked on an open dockside in the heat or shaken about in the back of a lorry. Even a humble crisp packet, which uses the tiniest amount of material, performs a number of jobs to ensure that crisps are crisp, not stale, and not crushed into tiny bits.

There has been lots of publicity recently for the huge quantity of food we waste in the UK each year. Wasting food is an environmental disaster, not least because all of the energy and other resources that went into growing, processing, storing and transporting it are also wasted, along with the food itself. But few of us probably realize that if the UK’s packaging and distribution system was not as sophisticated and technologically advanced as it is, there would be far more food waste.

Most food just would not be available without packaging – sliced bread, yogurt, frozen peas, rice, jam, cream cake. Packaging continually responds to changes in life style – smaller portions for people living alone; prepared microwavable vegetables for time-poor people and those who want to reduce cooking energy – in a way that few other industries have done.

Twenty years ago there was roughly the same amount of packaging in your bin as there is today, but it would have been generated by far fewer goods. That’s because manufacturers and retailers keep doing more with less, reducing the resources used to provide the same (or better) protection, information and hygiene.

On average just 1% of packaged food is wasted compared to 10% of food sold loose. That’s because packaged food does not get damaged in the supply chain and it lasts longer on the shelf.

The public mistakenly sees the packaging in their bin as a sign of failure, but over 80% of packaging can easily be recycled so clean paper, cardboard, glass, metals and plastic bottles should be put in recycling boxes, not rubbish bins. However, even non-recyclable packaging is – in the big picture of total resources used – helping to avoid waste. It also makes much of modern life possible – take-away coffee, ready-made sandwiches, microwaveable meals.

We should learn to love packaging – it’s helping to reduce waste and improve both choice and convenience. How many products can claim that?

TV Preview: Aftermath – When the Earth stops spinning

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Fox and the National Geographic channel are having an apocalypse week. Nothing says optimism like the end of the world and death on a devastating scale and this is no exception. Our planet is spinning at 1,600 km per hour but this programme predicts what would happen if that spinning stopped. Imagining an Earth that ground to a halt within 5 years we’re told of terrifying scenarios and visions of death, destruction and suffering.

To begin with the differences wouldn’t seem so large, eventually they become so escalated that there seems no corner of the Earth left unscathed. We’re shown graphic death scene after another, corpses floating in an underwater London, ficticious news reports of the unfolding horror. After more terrifying visuals and descriptions of an “earth tearing itself inside out” those who havnt suffocated, drowned, frozen, burned, starved or died of insomnia related accidents either stay in safe places or set sail for new lands.

A boat full of oceanographer/models set sail on an arc to new land. And so begins a new race of beautiful model “settlers”, fishing, farming, watering pot plants, harnessing the power of the wind, only wearing beige and shivering because they never had the need of a jumper. Only the people who previously owned floor length puffer jackets are craggy looking.

Eventually the Earth grinds to a complete stop and the remaining humans are left huddling together like penguins as they spend six months of the year in darkness. I’m not sure why the Earth stopped spinning, this is never explained, but the result is entertaining.

Watch Aftermath – When the Earth stops spinning on the National Geographic and HD channel on 7th June at 9pm