A reminder to myself of such a good fun trip to entertain on the Isle of Man – and how lucky I am to be a magician at weddings – that what was once my hobby is now my living. Even if I was sitting in a car during England (what they need is a magician) V Sweden at The World Cup.
Taking the early morning flight over from Manchester, to my complete surprise as we approached the island it was hidden in fog – on a beautiful sun-shining blue-skied day. It turns out that according to Manx folklore even the Vikings couldn’t find the island at times (I was informed by a helpful assistant in Curphey’s), as it has an unusual geo-specific fog that can come and go in minutes. The pilot did a go-around (note to self to write a blog some time about when I did my Private Pilot’s Licence in South Africa at Progress Flight Academy – they were brilliant) and circled for an extra 20 minutes before announcing that if the fog didn’t clear we’d be diverting to Liverpool.
Hmmm, up since 5am and I was going to have managed to get a flight from Manchester to Liverpool for the day… It cleared enough to land. Phew. On the plus side it meant I got chatting with Peter – the passenger next to me – and ended up giving him and his wife a lift to Douglas.
Photo: on the Central Promenade of the fog lifting in Douglas.
With a few hours to kill I did a quick drive around some of the island – and some of the TT route – enjoying my 30-40mph and taking in the TT signage (and crash barriers) for the riders. You wouldn’t believe it if you could see some of the roads – but the average (average!) speed of the riders is around 130mph. Round the small lanes. Bonkers.
Stopped off at Castletown – you can probably see how they came up with the name…
And so on to Kirk Michael – with England 1-0 V Sweden and the commentary signal dropping in and out (!) on 5 live radio. A quick stop to look at the Kirk Michael Heritage Trail – I’ll bring my mountain bike next time. And arriving at my Richard and Maria’s wedding with the score at 2-0 and in time to hear the cheers for the end of their speeches. Lovely to see their friends overlooking the match – I was once at a wedding when England were playing and most of the men were across the road watching it in a pub. The bride, to say the least, was fuming.
Two things that I then decided were great ideas at the wedding…
1) In the scorching heat this is the best use of a kids inflatable pool I have seen in ages – I was tempted to get in it myself…
and 2) what a great way of keeping all the kids entertained. They happily zoomed around this inflatable for hours – and their parents got to enjoy the peace. Ideal. Note to self: wedding entertainment for kids – recommend getting them a bouncy castle.
And so to work – being a magician – an absolute blast with all the guests. Such fun going around the tables in the evening doing my close-up magic and pickpocketing. A bit of down-time as we watched the cake cutting and the first dance – and then times like this – outside the marquee with a small audience and some good guys as my helpers. Photo – of my tie steal. Video of this is on my facebook page if you want to see the reaction.
Thanks again Richard and Maria – a wonderful wedding and honoured to be a part of it.
