Hello from Crete!

Hello folks

No picture, because I'm just at internet cafe without a USB cable - but Robin says hi. I've got to be quick because our half hour is nearly up, but I just wanted to say hello.

The wedding went really, really well - amazing service and great reception surrounded by people we care about. Our honeymoon was delayed by a day because flights out of AThens were cancelled because of crazy wind, but we made it to Crete on the Wednesday after our wedding. We're having a lovely, peaceful time here, just relaxing after the mania of wedding-ness. It was all quite hard work to plan (and it never let up right until the afternoon of the wedding) but it was all well worth it - we both had an amazing time, and married life is, so far, very good!

Hope you're all well. Pictures of Robin on Crete to follow when we're back...

Today I get married!

Robin and rings
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, here's Robin on the morning of my wedding in Athens, looking after the wedding rings.

The service is at 6pm tonight (they do evening weddings in Greece) in the Orthodox church that my fiance's parents got married in 30 years ago.

Thanks for all your best wishes.

I can't wait.

:)

Robin visits a 2,500-year-old temple...

Robin at Sounion
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Evenin'

Today me and Robin went up to the Sanctuary Of Poseidon, a temple at Cape Sounion about 35 miles outside Athens.

We went up there with my Grampa and fiance (that's them in the background on the left) - as my Grampa's in Athens for my wedding and he's always wanted to go up to Sounion, which he's never been to despite having travelled to Greece so much in the past that he speaks fluent Greek (to our taxi driver's obvious amazement!).

It's a beautiful place, amazingly situated that's definitely worth a visit if you ever make it to Athens. Nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of wedding planning in the city too.

So, we've got some last minute sorting to do tomorrrow and then it's the wedding on Saturday. Thanks so much for all your best wishes in the comments tabs (including you Diegem - can't believe I didn't put you in my list of regulars!). It's ace that you're following our progress from all over the world.

I'll try and post something tomorrow - which is when about 40 of our friends and family arrive to join the 25 or so that have already made it out (plus, of course, the 60 or so guests who live here in Greece).

People keep asking me if I feel nervous. That in itself is making me feel nervous.Truth is, I'm actually more excited than anything else...

:)

We did it! We hit 20,000!

Robin in a market, celebrating!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, as you'll tell from the extra wide smile on Robin's face, today we hit our 20,000th visitor! Thanks loads for the extra effort over the last couple of days - it's much appreciated by both myself and my red-breasted pal.

So, today was another cold day in Athens. Would you believe it has snowed - at least a sprinkle - every day since we arrived last weekend. The snow isn't settling, but it's absolute FREEZING cold (espcially for folks who packed thinking it would be warmer than mild London - which it very much isn't!). But the sun's shining. so that's the main thing.

Today we did our wedding seating plan and then went out and met my mum, brother, grampa and stepdad for a wander around the massive old central market hall in Athens. That's where Robin's standing, with folks packing up meat stalls (i think) in the background.

Right, I'm off to watch the all-important Greece v Denmark World Cup qualifier on TV (tried to get tickets, sadly didn't manage).

Thanks again for helping us hit 20,000 (especially the Robin loyalists like Vix, KJ, Dawn, Shay, Andrea, Cathy and all the others!).

Three days until the wedding... :)

It's working! Just 27 to go!

Yes, our campaign appears to be doing the job - we've had our busiest day on the Blog for ages. So thanks. As I write we're on 19.973 visitors. We could even hit 20,000 by tomorrow morning. Wowser.

Someone kindly posted on the comment tab below saying that they (and others) read through the RSS feed. Excuse my ignorance, but can someone explain what that is? And where would you go to read it? I'm a bit confused by all this RSS malarkey to be honest. People sometimes email about my RSS feed, but I have no idea what they're talking about! Help! Please!

In other news, today I wrote my groom's speech for the wedding on Saturday. And my mum and big brother have just touched down in Athens. We've got about 65 people from outside Greece, and they're all arriving in the next couple of days. Exciting stuff. I'm off into Athens again tomorrow, so I'll get another pic of wee Robin out there (stayed in the flat all day today working on this speech!)

Robin needs you!

Robin's campaign...
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, as the picture shows, me and Robin are back in Athens and had a nice trip down to the old Olympic Stadium today (the one used for the 1896 Olympics and the archery/marathon at the 2004) ones.

And, as you'll see from the picture, he's got a campaign to launch! If you click on the Site Meter below, you'll see that we're just short of our 20,000th visitor to www.athens2004blog.com - in fact, about 80 short as I write this. We normally get between 15-25 visitors a day (of course, it was thousands during the Olympics!) but we're keen to hit the magic 20,000 mark as soon as we can. This is mainly because I get married in Athens in 5 days' time - and I was really hoping to pass it before that.

So, what do me and Robin want you to do? Ask your relatives, friends, colleagues and even enemies to come to the blog (www.athens2004blog.com) in the next couple of days. They don't have to even read any pages when they get here (but it would be lovely if they did), I just want to see if we can push it over the magic 20,000 mark with a burst of visitors.

So go on. Ask a couple of pals to pop to the Blog and let's get past 20,000 by Friday. Then I'll be able to get married with that particular mission accomplished.

Thanks very much. Update tomorrow...

Robin and Robot

Machine and bird in perfect harmony
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This is Robin and a chap who lives in our flat called Robot. Although it looks like Robot is karate chopping Robin's head, he is actually just giving him a friendly pat - they're good friends and Robot is very happy to have Robin back.

Oh, and Robin's left leg hasn't fallen off, he's just tucked it behind him.

Nine days till I get married...

Robin's made a new friend!

Robin and his new pal
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, having returned from a month in my brother's sports bag at the weekend, Robin wasted no time in finding a new friend on his return to London.

He bumped into this chap in a bakers near where we live. Quite why the bakers is selling 2004 Olympic ginger bread men in February 2005 wasn't clear, but he seems fresh, so we're pretty sure he hasn't been sitting there since August,

In wedding news, my big brother Eddie took me shopping today and, with his marvellous advice, I managed to get myself a shirt, some shoes and some cufflinks. 11 days to go...