A busy day

Yesterday was a really busy day, what with the talk for the Gurkha Welfare Trust to the Royal British Legion Women's section, and then the wedding of the year in Ayrshire.
The talk was most enthusiastically welcomed, and, as ever, the ladies were charm itself, even if some of them were definitely in the battle-axe category. Whenever I look at somewhat older Scottish ladies, I am reminded of the story of the women who said their men would not be getting any sex until they had vanquished the foe. Mind you, in Scotland,that might in some cases lead to a reaction of downing weapons and breathing a sigh of relief...
And talking of relief, what's this about no longer teaching " I after E except after C" because the rule is so often broken. It may be but not with words we use every day, like friend, relief and receipt.
The wedding, of course, went on far too long as they all do nowadays. What happened to the wedding, champers, cake and tea, Bride and Groom leave at 6 sharp, and the guests are home in time for Casualty? What's all this standing and sitting about waiting for thinks to happen? My other bete noire are the speeches. No one nowadays as far as I can make out has to read a lesson or make a speech, or read out loud in class,so they can't be heard ( even with microphones) and the speeches themselves are too long, bad and embarrassing.
I've long said if anyone ever asks to marry any of the Ms Lears, they will be made to give their wedding speech first, as will the best man. It's things like this that make me think no one will ever bother to ask - they'll just do it if they want to.