This afternoon Tris & I had a wonderful time exploring in Kensington Gardens with my parents. The photos were taken on Tris’ Fujifilm X10 that he is letting me play with (I took all the pictures except the one of me which Tris took). I particularly like the photo of my Mum with her new haircut & pink jacket.
Lots of fun was had & there were many giggles at Dad’s expense when we managed to persuade him onto a Boris Bike & he wobbled about 10 metres from the docking station before giving up & walking the bike back.
Overall we walked about 2 miles today which was very pleasant especially as the weather was warm enough to wear just my cardigan but not so hot that we felt like we were melting. Being less than ten minutes walk away from this gorgeous green space is another awesome benefit of living at the Lodge!
At present Tris & I have no choice but to arrange our wedding as either two separate components: one a meaningful, personalised ceremony officiated by a Humanist celebrant & the other a banal, bureaucratic civil service in front of a Government recognised Registrar. If we are lucky we may be able to find a Registrar willing to work with the Humanist celebrant to create the wedding we are dreaming of. If we can’t then it’ll be a case of having to go to the Registry Office which will be frustrating as we would like to have our legal wedding date the same as our Humanist one but this will complicate matters in the timing of the day.
The fact that the English Government does not see a wedding conducted by a Humanist celebrant as a legal marriage disappoints me. Christians, Jews, Unitarians & Quakers have their religious marriage ceremonies recognised by the English Government so why force Tris & I as well as all the other Humanists in the country through the hoopla of having to organise a second officiant for the celebration of our commitment to each other? Discrimination of any kind is terrible & there is an opportunity here for you to help the situation change.
Next week as part of the debate over same sex marriages there is an amendment that would include Humanist weddings as legally recognisable by English Government. It is a free vote so each MP can make their own choice as to how they cast their vote rather than being instructed by the party leader on how to choose how to vote. Click here to go through an email template that will send a message to your local MP asking them to support the change.
If you still aren’t sure here is some more information that you may find useful:
Humanist Weddings are recognised as legal marriages in Scotland.
Last year there were almost 3000 Humanist weddings in Scotland which is more than the number of Roman Catholic weddings there during the same timeframe.
If the trend continues then Humanist ceremonies will overtake Church of Scotland weddings as well in coming years.
Norway, Australia & parts of the USA recognise Humanist weddings as legal marriages.
Many noted historical figures were Humanist including: Isaac Asimov, Johannes Brahms, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla & Mark Twain.
Stephen Fry, Tim Minchin, Ricky Gervais, Seth Macfarlane, Joss Whedon, Jane Asher, Ken Livingstone & Sir Terry Pratchett are all present day Humanists.
Just a few images from our evening at The Marlborough on Saturday night. The Professor was in fine voice performing songs from Father of Invention. Audience participation was very much encouraged with the Prof getting a young lady from her seat to emulate his moves (in appropriate attire of course!) & Tris was asked to narrate a shadow puppet show put on by Geoffrey the Orangutan butler.
As well as the wonderful show I enjoyed gin & tonic from a teacup & the second issue of the Professor Elemental Comic Book was purchased. Whilst I was enjoying my gin I had the pleasure of conversing with several of the people who assist the Prof with his performances & found them to be thoroughly lovely people!
I heartily recommend that if you have not yet had the pleasure of attending a Prof live gig then click here to find out when/where you can see him in the coming months.
