Different lives

I read a very touching post over at my blogbuddy `Behind Blue Eyes`, first thing this morning. It was a very interesting and well observed comment, spookily encapsulating something I was pondering over the weekend. You should nip over and read it. As I was free from my own work over the weekend, I helped out a friend and drove one of his fleet of `wedding` cars. It was a bloody V8 top of the range supercharged Range Rover - oh the indignity of it all after all I've written about these behemoths, but that said, I would not have managed the frozen, snow laden roads in the usual Bentley, even though a supercharged V8 in snow is about as much use as a chocolate teapot - give me a short wheelbase Land Rover anyday! I arrived to collect the bride at the family home, an 8'ish bedroomed, security-gated mini stately home in Bigcitysuburb. Guests were being bussed to the wedding and reception in 56-seater coaches - we are talking big budget, the sort of affluence that could easily slot into the jealousy/comparison sentiments "Blue Eyes" wrote about over at his blog. His observations really did slot perfectly into my own experience of the weekend and has prompted me to jot it all down before heading off to work. It's a toss-up, but I think I will be travelling in on the bus today, judging from the unpredictably dicey roads in town yesterday. "Seen any mad old bikers lately?" No, because the mad ones aren't old and the old ones aren't mad. My involvement with this wedding family amounted to barely 5 hours, yet I was struck by what delightful people they were. Beautiful, relaxed, cool-as-a-cucumber bride; equally lovely but `in-a-flap` and ever so slightly dotty bridesmaid/sister; utterly charming, elegant yet friendly and totally down-to-earth (widowed) mother of the bride and doting Grandma who was just a total sweetie. The drive to and from the venue was accompanied by happy conversations and chit-chat that I was graciously involved in from time to time. By the time we arrived at the venue we knew quite a bit about each other. After what was quite a long service there followed a 30 minute journey with the brand new Mr and Mrs on board. I finally dropped them off at the reception venue, politely declining several genuine invitations from mother and grandma to join them for some food. As I trundled back home through the aforementioned frozen roads and snow laden countryside, I felt nothing but pleasure at having met such lovely people and I quietly wished the Bride and Groom health and happiness in their life together. I have met more affluent families whilst doing these jobs, families who were totally devoid of human kindness, communication skills and basic social graces and who I was glad to see the back of. I have also encountered people who have clearly had to dig deep into shallow, empty pockets to give their daughters a memorable day. For my part, I was warmed by the fact that I'd shared a miniscule part of the lives of who I perceived were just charming, unassuming, delightful people and although clearly not short of a scheckel or three, were totally unpretentious. I could so easily have felt resentment or jealousy for their considerable financial wealth compared to my own and speculated over the lifestyle they could afford and then compared it to my own and get all bitter and twisted, but I didn't. They put me in a very pleasant frame of mind, simply because of how they were. I think people should stop watching Coronation Street and Eastenders