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Well this is quite old news, but I have been busy recently so am only getting to post about it now. We were all at G’s Belfast wedding the weekend before last (seems like ages ago now!) It was called his barat. It is when Muslims celebrate the wedding in the home town of the groom, and the bride is introduced to everyone there.

As you can see from the picture above, G’s new lady wife, Fiaza looked stunning when she arrived. And when she left too. The reception (that’s what it was like really) was held at the La Mon hotel outside Belfast. I’d only been up there with G to have a look before, but it was really nice. So I reckon there were about three hundred people at the wedding. The room was ABSOLUTELY massive, and was packed with people.

As at the wedding in Watford that Jill and I had been to, the food was amazing. This time there were also some Indian sweeties on display - that’s them above. They were really unusual tasting. Very sweet but different from British sweeties, as they were flavours I didn’t really recognise. I can’t really remember much about them, but I think one of them had milk in it or something.

So we ate plenty at G’s wedding. And didn’t drink! Well I didn’t anyway. Glo and I were very, very tired after being the last ones to leave a barbecue party at G’s mate’s Omair’s house the night before. It was a full house there with only about four people drinking. Needless to say Glo and I were two of them, and I was so smashed (although perfectly well behaved) I can’t actually remember getting home. There was a really nice attractive redhead there as well, but nothing happened there. I was consious she was completely sober so that’s what put me off making a move.

So G is now a fully married man and off to Malaysia now on his honeymoon. I shall leave you with what is perhaps the best photograph of G I have ever taken!

I have not had a very exciting time recently, as I’ve just been finishing editing Northern Exposure. This is probably reflected in the fact that the most interesting thing I have to write about is a new burger at McDonald’s.

It’s called the Oriental BBQ burger but mine wasn’t very oriental. Apparently I got the last one before they ran out of the Oriental BBQ sauce, and I think I must have had one drop on it because it didn’t taste oriental at all. So I was a bit disappointed.

In an aside, did you know my most popular picture on Flickr is this one? 11,902 views and favourited 10 times! Burger time!

I think the world would be a much better place if there were more monkeys in everyday life.

Check the video here.

I’m aware I have loads of blogging catching up to do - hopefully I’ll get round to that this weekend at some point! I’ve been feeling wrecked this week.

So, my friend G got married to his lady Fiaza at the weekend! Which I still cannot believe! Jill and I spent Saturday at the Watford Colosseum where we had been invited to the first part of wedding. I can honestly say it was completely amazing. I had never been to a Muslim wedding before, but it’s one of the best I’ve ever been to. And I was completely sober throughout!

It all started with G walking into the Colosseum with us behind him. He got petals thrown at him, and then we all went through to the hall where it was all happening. G was certainly the centre of attention as he got to sit on a massive couch on a stage at the front of the hall. An imam then came in and married G, which is obviously unusual as Fiaza was still in a different room at this point.

Then we had a delicious Indian meal. Pakoras and Chicken Tikka and other stuff to start, and then several curries for a main course.

For dessert we had ice cream and gajar al halwa. I was very reluctant about trying this as G’s friend Omair told us it is made out of carrots. Looking at it, it does just look like mashed up carrots, which I don’t particularly like. However, it was lovely! Sweet and fluffy, and it didn’t even taste like carrot. Hooray!

After the meal, G and Fiaza were surrounded on stage. G was presented with a beaker, baby cup or glass of milk. He had to choose one, but each had a price tag on it. Once he drank it, he then had to give Fiaza’s sisters the corresponding amount of cash. Then, they knicked his shoes, and he had to pay to get them back as well!

After that, it was time for Fiazza to say bye to her family and then head off in the amazing Bollywood type car with G. But they were only going round the corner or something. There’s no honeymoon just yet!

I had a brilliant time at the wedding, even if I am a bit sad to see another single friend bite the dust! It was really interesting, colourful and everyone was like the nicest people you could ever meet, and explained to Jill and I what was going on when we didn’t really get it. There were also some very hot ladies there

It was the first time I’d met Fiaza too, and she seems lovely - she will be a nice addition to our little Belfast crew methinks! We get to do the whole thing all over again on Sunday, when G has his barat over here. Apparently that is more like a Western reception, but I will write about it anyway.

See all the photos I took here (click Carousel at the bottom of the page for the best view).

Awww! I love this, but his eyes are CREEPY.

So on Friday there, Jill and I headed to London for G’s wedding! I had quite a packed day on Friday, meeting my Dad, going out to Television Centre and popping into see some mates, and also having lunch with my friend Christine.

After that it was back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep and then off to Soho for dinner with my two sisters - Ailse and Jill, her husband Tobey, and my mate Christine. That’s everyone in the pic above. We went to Zilli Bar, which was quite nice, although Jill had to complain about her food. But as a result, we got hers taken off the bill, a free bottle of wine, and free desserts! So that was good.

My family left after dinner so me Jill and Christine headed out on the town. We grabbed a rickshaw to The Sanderson, a very swanky and funky hotel. That’s the bar in the pic above. I really liked it (although it’s expensive - £50 for three glasses of champagne!) and could have happily spent the rest of the night there. It was full of people that thought they were good looking but were actually not, and were badly dressed to boot though. Apart from one totally gorgeous blonde girl sitting at the bar.

Next we went off to The Kingley Club in Soho - a private members’ bar which we blagged our way into. Many many cocktails later, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel which was hilarious. Jill managed to call the taxi driver every rude name under the sun but he did think it was amusing, so we didn’t get thrown out.

Off to bed completely pissed, and an early start the next day to get to G’s wedding in Watford!

Yes that’s right! I can exclusively reveal on my blog (well it’s an online exclusive as no-one else I know has written about it) that my mate G is getting married! He is having a barat on Saturday in London Town (well Watford) which me and the Miss Jill Morgan are going to. I am intrigued as to what it will be like as G can tell me nothing about it, and there is apparently no disco or dancing. But it lasts for five hours! What will be happening? Goodness only knows. He is marrying a lady called Fazia who I have not met yet, but no doubt will at the weekend.

Then, he gets to have another two weddings next weekend in Belfast the crazy cat that he is - he has a proper official ceremony to sign the licence and that, and then it’s another celebration, this time in Belfast!

So if you have ever wondered what a wedding from a different culture is like, wonder no more as I will be able to tell you on Monday (or whenever I get round to writing about it).

To celebrate G’s upcoming wedding, me and the Charlie Brown took him to Gourmet Burger Kitchen on Wednesday. (That is G on the right in the picture above). G has always wanted to go, so that’s why we went there. I wasn’t going to write a review in a post about G’s wedding, but it’s my blog and I can do what I want.

I quite like Gourmet Burger Kitchen. The burgers are about £8 each, and are very large, as you can see from the picture of the Cajun Burger I had which is above. Trust me, you will not need to eat anything else - no side orders or anything, as they are very filling. I felt slightly sick after eating there as I did actually have fries as well. The burgers are nice though, and are cooked however you like them (I like my beef medium-rare).

It’s got a bit of a sterile atmosphere about the place, but it’s ok for a casual lunch / dinner. Although it’s licensed, it’s not really the kind of place you’d want to take a lady for dinner. Well actually, maybe it would be ok if you were going to the Odeon in Victoria Square or something. Drinks (we just had soft drinks) and fries and things can very quickly make your bill add up though - fries are £2.95, and I can’t remember how much the drinks were, but I did think they were a bit expensive.

Anyway, that is not to take away the fact that G is getting married. I am really excited about a nice weekend in London and going to G’s wedding. Although a part of me is a bit sad that he is no longer going to be a single man. Not that I’m gay or anything, just that it’s another single mate biting the dust (although he’s not really biting the dust, just getting married).

I went to see Mamma Mia! last night. I’d been wanting to go and see it for a while. Not because I’m an ABBA fan, but just because I thought it looked like a feel-good, summery movie.

In reality, I thought it was the weirdest film I’ve ever seen. I kept getting embarassed when people in the movie started to sing. It felt really unnatural whenever they burst into song. And I can’t work out why! It’s not like it feels weird in the Sound of Music or anything. I dunno, after the first three songs I kind of got into it, but by the end it was all wearing a bit thin to be honest.

The main character, Sophie is quite hot, but that wasn’t enough to redeem it really. If you’re a bloke and you’re going to see it, I would have at least two beers before going in!

Obviously an earthquake isn’t pleasant. Out of all the ways this could have been captured however, the fact tat it was captured during a taping of Judge Judy (out of all programmes!) is just brilliant….

If you are mad enough to have missed Laurence & Jackie’s Northern Exposure, episode 1 is now available on the iPlayer.

This week’s programme, 9pm on BBC One Northern Ireland repeated on Sunday evening, sees L&J take to the roads of County Armagh. Tune in and see Laurence micro-lighting! (BBC One NI is avilable on Sky Digital channel 973 and Virgin Media channel 863 throughout the UK.)