The online diary of Caroline Westbrook following her marriage on September 6 1998 to Leslie Bunder.
Sunday November 1 1998
Decided it would be a good idea to rest a little after the excesses of last night, which of course is tricky to do when there’s groceries to be bought and the like.
The weather at the moment is quite shockingly bad, to the point where you just want to sit in front of the TV eating chocolate. It has not stopped raining for the past 36 hours, to the point that last night I spent the entire party walking around carrying an umbrella because not having it would have meant getting drenched just walking the few hundred yards from the car to the venue. (couldn’t be bothered to put it in the cloakroom and queue for hours either). Let’s hope it clears up soon.
Monday November 2 1998
This week we are hoping to have some of the photos put up on the Web site. It’s going to be a fairly quiet week, I hope, which will give us a chance to work on the site.
It’ll be lovely to have the photos up there – we also need to get back in touch with Pace and get some pics for the Jewish Chronicle and London Jewish News papers, as we want to get the wedding in there as well.
Tuesday November 3 1998
To my enormous relief I finally finished writing 2000 words on the movie Prince of Egypt, quite an achievement considering I haven’t even seen it yet! It’s an animated movie about Moses and the liberation of Egypt which, if I’m lucky, I’ll finally get a glimpse at next week. Still, 2000 words on one movie is nothing given the word count on this diary to date – the last two months alone have clocked up nearly seven thousand words and that’s before you even consider the rest of the year!
Wednesday November 4 1998
Had a work party tonight to celebrate Empire’s relaunch – the new look appears to be very popular, so we thought we’d invite a load of film folk to a swanky bash to show our gratitude. The place was called Browns Studio, which is right above a nightclub (also called Browns) and was spread over two floors and a series of rooms, the best of which played host to the longest sofa I had ever seen. Put it this way – we have a 15 foot living room and this oversized couch would have had difficulty even fitting along that wall.
Fantastically comfy though, to say nothing of the surrounding squashy leather seats. Spent most of the time in there, away from the loud music and the crowds – although I did venture out to sample some of the freebie ice-cream on offer (Chunky Monkey, mmmmm!) Left about 11.30 pm, a little earlier than I had aniticipated but things were winding down by this point. At least it meant I got a chance to see Leslie when I got home.
Thursday November 5 1998
The pictures are officially on the Web site! Too bad my rusty old AppleMac at work doesn’t seem to want to download the site for me to see. I snuck off to someone else’s terminal and had a good look there, and they do look marvellous.
Anybody reading this, I recommend you stop right now and take a look at those pictures by going to http://www.bunder.com/wedding/phot.htm And then go book Pace Photography for your own wedding, Bar Mitzvah, whatever. Fly them over to the country of your choosing. They’re worth it. Tell David I sent you.
Blatant advertising over, my Apple Mac has been dismissed as ‘landfill’ by a friendly tech support chap, and will be upgraded tomorrow. Opted for a nice early night after the party-going antics of the last few days, despite the fact it was Bonfire night and people were letting off fireworks left, right and centre.
Spoke to Arlene in Pace Photography’s office, who told me if I let her know the numbers of the photos I wanted, David would run off a couple of copies for the newspapers at no extra charge. Hurrah!
Friday November 6 1998
Well, it’s 4.31 pm and my promised new leap into technology is still not forthcoming. Worse still, the person who looked at my PC yesterday removed a few cables and took away the detachable piece of flooring that covers them up. So now I have a big hole under my desk that I go careering into every time I move so much as a centimetre. All this, I tell myself, will be worth it.
Avoided the fireworks again tonight although caught some beautiful glimpses of them on the way home from the supermarket.
Saturday November 7 1998
Up bright and early, delivered set wedding photos to parents as requested, then headed off to the West End where we bumped into our friend Emma in Selfridges. Emma is getting married in two months time – in fact it was her engagement party we went to the day after we got back from NY – and she was starting to get her wedding list together. She was fine but seemed to have a great deal to do – we have told her we are on hand to offer advice if needed. We are, after all, old hands at this sort of thing, having been married for ooh, nine weeks now.
Went to the London Film Festival this evening – I managed to get some free tickets through work – to see an Italian movie called Life Is Beautiful. It was a tragi-comedy about a Jewish Italian guy who winds up in a concentration camp with his young son and convinces the boy their horrific new circumstances are part of a big competition to win a tank.
It’s absolutely outstanding, from his relationship with his wife (the whole of the first half of the movie shows how he won her over in the first place), to the camp scenes which are enormously well handled. Kind of a cross between Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and Peter Sellers, and just wonderful. Spent ages hanging out in Borders Books afterwards before heading to Sami’s in Hendon, a kosher place we hadn’t tried before, for a very tasty snack. All in all, a very satisfying day.
Sunday November 8 1998
Forgot to get up before 10.30 pm, but still managed to get everything done, from the enormous pile of washing that was practically climbing the wall to – yes! updating the diary. Not the most exciting day in the world, but a very useful one nonetheless.
Still, Leslie and Lorraine went shopping to North London and came back all stocked up for Chanukah, including a beautiful Menorah that Lorraine bought us as part of our Chanukah present and a Dreidel that does, indeed, play the Dreidel song when you spin it (although there’s a certain technique to spinning it that you have to get to grips with).
Plus, the fact that the tune goes all wonky when the Dreidel winds down takes some getting used to. Still, it will keep me amused throughout the festive season.
Monday November 9 1998
Nothing much to report today, except to say that the fireworks are finally dying down.
We are trying to decide where to go on holiday in January, a vacation which will be part honeymoon, part tying up all the remaining loose ends from the wedding (picking up the rest of the photos etc.). Obviously New York fits into the picture, but we are thinking of a couple of other places. Candidates include: Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and, yes, Las Vegas. Yes, again.
Tuesday November 10 1998
Finally got to see The Prince Of Egypt, the animated movie that’s supposedly fantastic. Whaddya know? It is. Amazing animation, not half bad songs and even accuracy with the storyline (it’s the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments, you know). I could be picky and go into the Biblical backstory that seems to have been left out (Jethro seems to have lost some daughters, Aaron ages alarmingly rapidly while Miriam appears to remain 15 years old throughout), but I shan’t, because this is such a fine piece of work.
How is it that films are good all of a sudden? Time of year or something?
Wednesday November 11 1998
Another good movie today! This time it was Pleasantville, a comedy about two teenagers who get trapped in a 1950s sitcom world and do some weird things to their new-found black-and-white surroundings. It wasn’t as good as some of the others I’ve seen recently but still excellent, largely because it had a remarkably similar plot to The Truman Show but still managed to be an entirely different film.
Thursday November 12 1998
No film today but Leslie and I went to a press launch for Expedia, a new on-line service which basically acts like a travel agent, finding flights all over the world and booking tickets online.
Anyway, there was a competition to win a trip to New York for the person who gave the best reason as to why it should be theirs, and although we didn’t bag the big one, Leslie still managed to win a £15 book token for telling the judges he hadn’t been able to take his wife on honeymoon yet! Well, at least I’ll be able to afford something to read on the plane.
Friday November 13 1998
It looks as though it’s going to be New York, Atlanta and Miami for our hols in January. We’ve never been to the last two so that should be interesting. Leslie has relatives who live just outside Miami so we have a good reason to go. Besides, it’ll be nice to actually go to some parts of the States we haven’t seen yet. You tend to forget there’s a vast expanse of country between the East and West coasts which we haven’t explored yet.
Saturday November 14 1998
Leslie went to his mum’s this morning, so Catherine came round to visit and we popped into Ealing for some lunch. It was great to see her – we have both been so busy we haven’t seen each other since the day of the wedding! She is doing an awful lot of work around the coast of England, and of course, I am taken up writing my fantastic diary. Still, it was good to catch up.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet, went to Sami’s again tonight. We are getting hooked!
Sunday November 15 1998
My brother’s birthday today, so we went to a pub in the West End to give him his present and have a little celebratory drink. Tried to go for sushi afterwards at Yo! Sushi at Harvey Nichols and found the place closed. Denied!
Monday November 16 1998
Bit of a late one at work, so not much chance to do anything else. We will hopefully be booking our holiday in the next week or so. (well, we’d better as January is not that far off!)
Tuesday November 17 1998
Another late one at work, trying to get everything done for this issue. Still, hopefully tomorrow should not be so bad.
Wednesday November 18 1998
Today was bad! I left work at about one in the morning! Not much time to think about anything else, being so busy. Still, tomorrow should definitely be better.
Still, got to see the much-hyped trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the long-awaited Episode One in the saga. It was only off the Internet and there was no sound, but the pictures sure looked pretty.
Thursday November 19 1998
Our mate Dan Rosen, he who makes movies, is over again as his film Dead Man’s Curve opens tomorrow. So went along to a little Planet Hollywood reception tonight which was held prior to a special screening of the film.
We almost landed ourselves in trouble when, prior to his arrival, we started signing a stack of movie posters which had been left for him to sign for the people at the screening (it was organised by a radio station for their listeners). One of the organisers descended on us in a fury, but Leslie told her he co-financed the movie and she went away happy. Still, when Dan and the movie’s PR turned up a few minutes later to be told their producer was already there signing posters they couldn’t quite work out what was going on!
Luckily they saw the funny side, the only problem being that I now have a Dead Man’s Curve poster signed by Caroline Westbrook rather than Dan Rosen. Which will be more valuable in the long run, I wonder?
Anyway, didn’t stay too long as we decided to go for sushi afterwards! Finally!
Friday November 20 1998
Back to normal at work, was able to leave at a civilised hour. Leslie cooked another one of his marvellous steaks tonight – the nicest meal I had had all week! Did the shopping as well – one less thing to do tomorrow. Looking forward to a nice quiet, if chilly, weekend.
Saturday November 21 1998
Went shopping for bedroom furniture. Have found a very nice chest of drawers for the bedroom, but there’s no point in buying now as the sales will start in just over a month.
Went to Sami’s again tonight. Very good, but way too much food. I think we’ll give it a miss for a few weeks. Went to Borders books afterwards to take advantage of their special offer – buy over £50 of books and get a free five pound voucher.
We managed that quite easily, picking up loads of travel guides to determine our future holidays. The idea is basically to read up on a load of countries and go to the one we like the sound of. Sat up till about 1 am reading the books.
Sunday November 22 1998
It looks as though it is going to be Tokyo! Yes, that’s our destination of choice for May/June time next year. After all, why go to the States in May and see Star Wars Episode One when we could just as well see it in Japan (assuming it’s opened there?) Exciting stuff! Budapest is also an option, but basically if we have one less trip to the States next year we can easily fit Japan in.
Monday November 23 1998
Sick to death of Star Wars Episode One even though it hasn’t even opened yet. God knows what the world is going to be like by the time the film opens if it’s this bad when it’s just the trailer.
Must call Pace Photography and get the photos delivered for the Jewish Chronicle.
Tuesday November 24 1998
Pace have assured me that a fresh set of photos will be on its way to
us this week, so we can begin to choose the ones we like before we visit them
on Long Island in January.
They also made suggestion that the video will be
arriving in the same package! Very exciting, given that we were the only ones
who never actually got to see our own wedding!
Wednesday November 25 1998
Went to the Women In Journalism Christmas Party - my first Christmas
party of the year, in fact, which was quite fun - saw some of the people I met
at the first meeting I went to, and hopefully will get to hook up with them
again in January at a film screening which has been organised. Leslie came with
(this being one of the few occasions of the year when men are allowed to go
along).
Can't believe it's only a month to the end of the year! We don't have
anything planned for New Year's Eve but to be honest, I'm not that bothered
about it.
We're not big New Year's Eve fans - obviously if something cool and
free comes up like last year then we'll go to it, but otherwise staying in is a
viable option.
Thursday November 26 1998
Nothing too sensational to report today. Saw a delightful little movie
called Waking Ned, and I mention it because it's going to get a great deal of
publicity. It's about a couple of old codgers in a tiny Irish village
trying to pull off a lottery scam. Great fun. Oscar nominations are not out of
the question, I would say. And it was great to be able to watch something
other than the Star Wars trailer.
Friday November 27 1998
Am hoping the photos will show up soon. The last lot only took four
days to arrive, but I guess this is just me being impatient. We have a busy
weekend ahead of us, meanwhile, seeing people and booking our holiday.
Saturday November 28 1998
Our holiday has been booked! We have ruled out going to Atlanta, firstly
because it's pricey, secondly because we have never done three
locations on a two week trip before and lastly because, even though Georgia is the
next state to Florida, getting from one to the other basically involves trekking
halfway round the country changing on to God knows how many planes (all of
which get smaller and smaller according to the length of the journey.
One flight we took from Denver to Vegas earlier this year was on a tiny little plane
staffed by stewards in plimsolls! Literally!) So we are going to New York first,
spending six nights there at our usual place, the Quality Hotel on W46th, then
flying down to Fort Lauderdale, to stay in Boca Raton, a town about 20 minutes
away.
Leslie has relatives there and we will be staying with them for a few
nights before transferring to the Sheraton. Marvellous! We can now afford to
do this as we are not going to Atlanta. Boca looks like a nice quiet relaxing
kind of place, which will be just what we need after NY. Will be good to have a
bit of a rest on holiday for once.
Saw Karen, Edward and Judy tonight - went
up to Islington, a gorgeous part of North London for a very nice meal. Which
wasn't too difficult, seeing as every other building in Islington is edible.
Sunday November 29 1998
An actual quiet Sunday for once. Which makes a change. Was able to
actually catch up on housework and the like.
Monday November 30 1998
No sign of the photos yet. I am not unduly worried, as the post does
start to get heavier around this time of year. Have now realised that we will
have to pack two sets of clothes for this trip - scarves, gloves and coats for
New York, T-shirts and light jackets for Florida, as NY will be freezing
and Boca Raton will be in the low to mid 70s.
Always weird to experience warm
weather in January when you're not used to it, but of course a had a pretty
good time with that this year what with Australia in March and LA in April. I
love the idea that part of the country can be roasting while another part can be
freezing.
I wish that happened in the UK, there would be something
immensely satisying in the middle of January or February about going down to
Brighton or up to Manchester to 'catch some rays.' Hardly likely to happen though,
as those places are usually even colder.
