I sold my Apple shares; I couldn't handle the market volatility. I'll probably get back in on the 5th of November.

Won't cover it I'm afraid, I'll trim it down to a reasonable size by extracting all the dross. Should leave me with about 10 songs.

As you may, or may not, know, a traditional part of Jewish weddings is a dance called the Hora. I thought I should give everyone a heads up so when my Jewish relatives start clapping and dragging everyone into concentric circles you will know that the madness is about to commence. It will be brief; I promise.
One example of the Hava Nagila (traditional song the Hora is danced to)
is here:
(this version sounds good but cracks me up because I have never seen anyone just...sit...through the song. It's definitely a get-up and bounce around type deal)

And, here is Ben Folds' version. Witness spontaneous dancing breaking out in the crowd...

The hora (and hava nagilah) are very cheerful and celebratory. The words are really simple and loosely translate as:
"Hava nagilah" -- Come! Let's rejoice; "V'nismicha" -- and be happy; "Hava N'ranana" -- Come! Let's celebrate; "Uru Achim" -- Arise, Brothers! "B'lev Somayach" -- with a happy heart!"

Clapping and hollering is always an accepted substitute for knowing the words.

Andre Rieu himself always brings a laugh I find. The hair is probably the main reason.

Will aim to get to gatwick 2-3 hours before departure. Lunch at their airport?

Any ideas for entertainment for the plane?

A Laptop wifi lan perhaps =)

....or would that crash the plane?

Hmmmm. Don't suppose our airline will have powersockets anyway.

ooh, do we get to lift you up on chairs and try to make you both vomit?

All things being well I should arrive at the station at 10am. I've bought a book of jumbo Times 2 crosswords - it's a little low tech I know, but you sometimes can't beat paper.

I'll also bring my iPod, thoughI doubt there's much on there that would find mass favour: I've found that guitars aren't really wedding material.

Having said that how about as the newly-weds walk back up the aisle 'One (Blake's got a new face)' by Vampire Weekend? Anyone?

Jennie - is it really 36 degrees out there??!?

Ha. Keep the suggestions coming. And yes, there will be chairs, and Noj, I'm sure you'd be welcome to hold a leg.



Oh, yes. Today we're expected to hit the 90's. But, it is always much cooler at the beach--so a balmy 75-80 is what I would expect. Why, isn't the weather that nice where you are?

You're funny you are.

Hmmm. Pete at a religious ceremony. This I must see!

Well, technically, the Jewish bits are all cultural (we've opted out of the religious parts). So you'll have to wait for the ceremony that melds singularity with the Iphone to see Pete get religion.
I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

I assume that a crystal 360 controller and 'master chief' helmet will feature in this somewhere, although I dread to think where.

i must say thanks to everyone who had a hand in organising it. pedro, i cant believe you went through so much effort sorting out the hotels etc

em and i had an absolute ace time, loved every minute of it.

p.s. team alpha rules

p.p.s two pancakes!

He speaks the truth. Lots of thanks to the organising gang, particularly Pete. I had an excellent time.

2 pancakes indeed and alpha rooolllsss!!!!!!!!!

Yep big respect Pedro for doing the majority of organising... now you can relax!

Team Bravo dont need to brag about being the nuts we just know we are the nuts.

I concur, thanks Pete.

Go Bravo!

Has anyone else been horribly ill for the last 3 days though? I think I might have West Nile Fever or something. This will be the reason I'm posting this at 6.30 in the morning. I spent all of yesterday alseep...

Yes Go Bravo indeed! An ace team brutally torn apart due to conflicting travel arrangements, Tart and I missed the 'kids' on our drive to LA!

And I have been feeling remarkably well since coming home actually Michael, I think my body responds positively to the cold, damp climate of the UK and I generally suffer anywhere that the temperature is over 10 centigrees and the height above 100 m from sea level!

Thank you Peter for the excellent Travel Agent duties! x

I'm getting all emotional seeing the pics on Facebook. It's like the whole gang got superimposed from Tart and Rosie's wedding in California...*sob* without me in it.

Double *sob*

Congrats guys - it looked beautiful. That sunshine makes everything look so sexy and Jennie looked gorgeous. Pedro - your sideburns were particularly sexy!

Ditto what everyone else said... Thanks to Pete and Jennie for inviting Michelle and me and organizing everything.

No, really, thank you for all making the trip.
And also for the post cards. They arrived "Fold" first, so we had a great few days anticipating when it would be joined by "Bet!", "Raise!", "Cut!" and "Deal!"
Off to read the now unpacked books...
Oh, if anyone would like a "full size" copy of the leaping/pointing/whatever pictures, just let me know. We have them all on DVD, and it should be easy enough to email them along...

I don't know why, but I just love the fact that 'Fold' arrived first.

Pete. Tell me what I owe you for hotels etc. I'd guess and just send you money, but I think we all know how good my maths is.

Pedro what news? The extra dosh is burning a hole in my skyrocket.

Don't panic. I will sort this out in the Spring. I need to design a system for the 25 people involved.

From a rough calculation: ~£70 per person.

I will send an email to the group when I have the details.