...the wedding was on the afternoon of the 24th of November. It was a cool, blustery day, the ice just melting and the streets easier to walk on. Marcello had flown in to Pearson during a snowstorm, his flight delayed because there was ice on the runway; on time on time on time said the faithful arrivals boards, and then suddenly, en retard en retard en retard. I waited impatiently and just as I was getting a bag of nice mixed nuts for us to eat, his flight arrived, and I waited with happy butterflies and birds inside to see him emerge at Terminal 3, pale and a bit dioriented (he'd never been to Toronto before) but happy to meet me (of course)...

...and after that it was the TTC all the way to St. Patrick Station and a slow but steady progress to the Baldwin Village Inn, where we stayed the first night; the streets were so mushy-slippery that Marcello could only venture so far so fast, and we ended up going to the nearest restaurant on Baldwin that was open, Vegetarian Haven, for dinner. (The dinner itself was serviceable, but the dessert was lovely; and the service and atmosphere are much better than the Living Well Cafe, which when I last walked by it had become a Thai place. HA. So deserved. By the way, is there any correlation between Patrick Pentland moving to Toronto in 1998 and the steady rise in Thai restaurants here since then? Hmmm? No?!?) The couple who run the Baldwin Village Inn are the nicest couple in Toronto and their bed & breakfast is lovely - they gave us a bigger room free of charge (for the upgrade that is) as the room itself was available and as newlyweds-to-be, I think they were being nice to us...well...it was but the first dimension of their hospitality we were experiencing, at that point...

...the next day was something of an obstacle course. First we had to get down to City Hall to get the wedding licence; actually we had to get the money first, then get the licence, then go back to get our things and take them to the University of Toronto Women's Club Bed and Breakfast, which is more or less as you might imagine it - lots of floral prints, quiet, lots of stairs, and no one but women about (I think Marcello was the only man on the premises, that I could see, anyway). We checked in and thought we would be staying there for three nights, but it turned out to be just the one. I had no idea why this was, they didn't either and felt so bad about it, they gave us a free lunch. They felt especially bad as it was Grey Cup weekend and it was impossible to find a place anywhere. (You see? There is such a thing as a free lunch, but you only get it under dire circumstances.) As we ate our soup and cottage pie and carrot cake in relatively quick order, we both were a little on edge; but the place is very calming and quiet, and the food was tres lady-like and yet also calming, somehow. We had the weekend with no place to go, and then the miracle - the Baldwin Village Inn folks were going to put us up in their own house. This is when I knew everything was going to be okay. Then my mom called and said that we didn't have to get rings as she had a couple stand-ins to use for the wedding, and much relief was felt by us then too; Marcello wanted to get the rings here, which only makes sense as *I'm* here and I had no idea what my ring size was, anyway...

...after this it was back down with the paperwork to meet the minister Gordon Winch, then to wait for my dressmaker, Gus MacLachlan for a final fitting, then to meet the best man Scott Woods; all fine people who were extremely generous and nice and thoughtful, and again I knew that The President of the Immortals was most certainly on our side, that it was bound to be an amazing wedding, and so it was...

...and now we are married! And we have such joy, such happiness, even though he had to fly back on the 28th to get ready to move to our flat in Fulham.

Things have not been all rosy though. My mother (who organized the wedding, baked the cake, designed & made the invitations, etc.) kindly lent us the apartment (well, I mean I live here but she left on the 26th) fell down during a freak windstorm on the 27th and broke her hip; Marcello & I visited her in hospital twice and she was operated on the same day I had my day surgery, the 29th. She is now home and I am looking after her, and I won't be happy to leave her to herself until she is obviously able to go out and about by herself (not just in the apartment building but also outside). So now I am a nurse and cook of sorts. Before now she was at Toronto Western and then Hillcrest and between visiting her, some tutoring and getting a cold (it was inevitable - I was upset, depressed and it is cold season) I only got to opening my various gifts from the wedding today! (Well, it makes up for the fact that I missed both the official and unofficial Serial Diners Christmas parties, in one case because I'd been working all day and hadn't been invited anyway and in another because I had to look after my mom.) During this whole time I have come to know who here really cares for me, and not just in Toronto but also London, which is more reassuring. Toronto, as much as I love it and my friends here, is soon (sooner than I think) going to be an ocean away. Some people are going to miss me, and I will miss them; others, I think, will forget me. Such is life. I am married now, and moving, and a great deal will change, but not everything has to change absolutely.