Sunday 1 November 2009

And the bride wore......

Hearing that GB, that Hebridean who is now in New Zealand, is in New Plymouth, reminded me of a funny incident that took place in Pukekura Park (in New Plymouth) in the summer of '97 or '98.

My younger daughter, Justine and I were both living in Australia and had met up to come back for a joint holiday. We'd travelled to New Plymouth to visit my dear friend and Justine's godmother, Bev.

Bev had taken us to see Pukekura Park; I think that was the first time I'd been there as previous visits to Bev would have been with my ex and he wasn't into gardens and the like. Pukekura Park is described as a native lowland forest. It has fabulous trees, lovely lawned areas, lakes and streams - a lovely park indeed.

It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Somehow Justine and I had become separated from Bev. We were strolling down a shady walkway towards a grassed area, surrounded on all sides by trees and ferns. A well dressed crowd had gathered within this green alcove and we guessed there was to be a wedding. Just as we came into the clearing the crowd turned and looked towards a path on the other side and there, coming down the path, astride a horse, was the bride.

This was no blushing bride, the skirt of her long white dress was bunched up around her thighs, giving a good display of long brown legs and pretty white shoes. It seemed to me like she had decided she wanted to ride a horse to her wedding but didn't think about whether her dress was practical for that purpose until too late.

We decided to stay where we were rather than proceed and enter into the bridal scene.

The bride entered the clearing and an older man standing right in front of us stepped forward to greet her and help her down from the horse. After he stepped forward he was perhaps three strides in front of us. The horse and the bride were facing the crowd. The bride lifted her right leg to dismount, her skirt rode up even higher, the man (her father?) lifted his arms to take her waist and looked up at the same time. Just as her right leg was coming across the back of the horse. He dropped his eyes very quickly and blushed the deepest red. Justine and I gasped and had to suppress our laughter.

The bride was wearing nothing but pantyhose under her skirt! And that poor man was standing almost directly underneath her. The bride had not the slightest idea about what the man, Justine and I had witnessed. She happily bounced to the ground, smoothed down her long tight skirt, greeted her bridesmaids, took the man's arm and proceeded towards her big moment.

Justine and I had to step back into the cover of the pathway to have our silent laugh. There's something about silent laughter that makes it funnier. Finally we composed ourselves enough to carry on and cross the clearing. But we had to avoid looking towards the wedding or looking at each other or we might have been overcome by more fits of laughter.

I wonder how that poor man remembers that day!

5 comments:

  1. Nice story, where's the camera when one needs it most?

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  2. Pukekura Park - beautiful place - will never be quite the same after that story, Pauline.

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  3. More greetings from the Northern Hemisphere, Pauline. Lovely story - and well done you & daughter for the silent laughter (a skill I've never managed to acquire, much to my disgust). Hm. Bet that man was mortified & tried to forget thereafter (also bet he didn't succeed!).

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  4. Trust GB's presence to inspire a story like that!

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  5. This is a great story. My friend Deb made up a word for silent laughter. She calls it LIS for laughing inside. She uses that on her fb when something amuses her but doesn't want to say what it is.

    I guess you don't really need a camera for that even as the image is probably still pretty clear even after all these years. Too funny. You did very well not giving in to fits of hysterical laughter.

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