Wedding, Scottie and Tess

Last week, I went to a wedding. I didn't actually know the people getting married, but was invited as Rosie's partner. Weird? A little. But I was more than happy to go along for the ride. Turns out Hugh and Caroline (the happy couple) are friends with lots of my friends. The Hotham Street Ladies did a sterling job on the cake.



The ceremony was at St. Pauls Cathedral in the city, which is the big grand church right on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets. Then the reception was at the Fitzroy Town Hall, the big grand building opposite the Napier.



We all wrote messages of goodwill on little cards and tied them to helium filled balloons. This is Lyndal, on of the Hotham Street Ladies in question.



Rosie wrote on one for both of us.



Then we all let our balloons float away. It was quite a beautiful sight.



While I was eating some delicious food or drinking a beer, I noticed this bag looked like a face.



Here's Sean and Caroline Anderson. Caroline is headed off to the south island of NZ soon, so she can write a book!



Rosie, Felicity, Sarah and Roopa on the dancefloor, which I graced with my self-conscious skills for several minutes.



Something was going on with my camera when I was shooting this portrait of Riley looking quizzically at the houses made from invitations for the wedding, which he drew with his very own hand. I'll spare you the other two similarly blurry takes.



The next morning, wait, the morning after that, Tess tore her claw out jumping through the window. Luckily, she had a prior appointment at the vet to get her vaccination, so we took care of it straight away. Here she is with her bandage, piling it on thick.



Not fifteen minutes later, she walked in from outside and came to look at me. For a minute, I thought she had something in her mouth, but then I realised her face had swollen up like a football! Those of you with children of your own will understand the horrible panic that engulfed me at this moment. We hightailed it back to the vet, turns out she was allergic to her vaccination and had to get another injection. Lucky I had stuck around checking emails or she could have died from anaphylactic shock!



To celebrate, we went over to watch Scottie sort through his monumental amounts of stuff in preparation for leaving our fair shores.



I looked on as him and Shona discussed the relative merits of xmas presents from years gone by, ridiculously expensive fashion items, super 8 cameras and the like. Bargain hunters would do well to check out the op-shops in the Coburg area, particularly if they're a size small.



Aside from winning the rights to 'look after' some of Scottie's sweet stuff, the visit allowed me a rare window into the earlier days of skateboard Scottie. Here's a shot from his old stomping grounds 'the Shed' and a kickflip with a startling sideways cap.



Up top he's winning a trophy for hair care, while below he's chillin' in California with his old mates Elissa Steamer and Tony Da Silva.



Here's a fridge photo, the nosegrind down a decent rail.



In a brief interlude from doing not much, I delivered a pair of jeans to a friendly banker on the 49th floor of a building on Collins Street. Quite the view from there.



And on Friday night, Scottie had farewell drinks at Handsome Steve's House of Refreshment.



Here's Scottie having a bright idea, as per usual.



Adam was along for a ride, as well as Jason, who was as sober as a judge.



Family shot of the Cameron's.



Here's Scottie with his mum and step-dad. Hang on, what the hell is going on? Is Joey muscling in on Scottie's family action?



Me and my really good mate Scottie.



Me and my really good mate Joey, and my really, really good mate Rosie.



Needless to say, things got a bit wild towards the end. Here's Scottie doing some behind the counter, very orange DJing.



Tender Australian dancing.



Handsome Steve.



And that was that! He's gone, he's even in New York now. Good luck Scottie! Things won't be the same around here without you. Rosie and I went to Coburg market today, and this scene caught my eye. While I was taking the photo, the man whose stall it was had a go at me. 'I'm trying to sell this stuff, not take photos of it', he said. Scottie would have turned that scene into a hilarious one, somehow showing the guy up as the over-serious fool he was, while acknowledging his ownership of the head, the bag and the saw, ending in good natured laughs all round. I just apologised and stalked off, muttering angrily to myself.