All those bare bottoms!

Manchester's Naked Bike Ride took place on 13th June and, by all accounts, went very well indeed.

My beloved rode with them for the second time, and I went along to watch. I would have joined in, but I had to mind the kids and I'm not that confident on my bike yet anyway. Besides, it helped to have someone who wasn't riding who would be able to take photos.

The ride caused quite a stir, with lots of excited and embarrassed giggling from bystanders as the cyclists passed - with only the occasional "Ugh they're naked and there's kids about. That's disgusting!" I noted that that kind of comment mainly seemed to come from young men out with girlfriends, including one Asian lad with his arm round his non-Asian girlfriend. One Asian family I passed in the wake of the ride up Market Street weren't reacting like that at all. They were all grinning hugely, laughing at mum who was wiping tears of laughter on her headscarf.

I got some fab photos of the event, sadly not of the laughing family: I felt I'd be intruding on them if I whipped out my camera and started snapping. All my pics of the event are here.

Here's a couple to be going on with.

If you watched Granada news that night, you'd have seen Seán doing his warm-up exercises before the ride while Meg, the organiser, was interviewed. The vid for that is still on the ITV local news website - search for local news (Greater Manchester) and sort by most recent as WNBR is way down the rear end (har har) of the alphabetical listing. Seán and I were also interviewed (along with Meg, other participants and spectators) by independent filmmakers G7UK - go watch the video here.

I'm looking forward to joining in next year!

The Big Day

A very important event occurred on Saturday 7th June.

My beloved, Seán (The Dionysian) and I, who have been together for 10 years or so, finally got round to getting married.

We had a legal ceremony at the local Registry Office, followed by a Pagan Handfasting in Burrs Country Park with a party afterwards at the Brown Cow.

We had a lovely day, starting off with me, my daughter and my best pal (and maid of honour) all going to House of Raja to put on our sarees. They'd offered to help us get ready as they wanted us to look our best in the sarees we'd bought from them, and we did indeed look fabulous. I'll be posting photos soon on Flickr, MySpace and Facebook, so keep an eye out.

The Civil Ceremony was elegant and simple, and didn't take long at all, the next couple were hovering outside having photos taken as we were being shooed out the door! I heard from the registrar that I was the third bride in a sari that day!

We then had a few hours to get something to eat before heading out again to Burrs to set up the gazebo as a chuppah/canopy for the Handfasting and sort out the room we'd booked at the Brown Cow.

We'd decided previously that our celebrant, my bridesmaids and I would wait at the canpoy, and Seán would lead the procession of guests from the carpark to the location we'd chosen for the ceremony - in a quiet spot near the river. We heard the approaching music - we had our friend Laurette playing fiddle to lead the guests in. It was lovely, a beautiful ceremony with vows we'd written and appropriate poems we'd chosen - and rings that I'd designed. See earlier post - I'm a Designer for details.

The party afterwards was brilliant, if a bit hot until a key had been found to open up the windows. The food everyone brought was great and the cake was just perfect.

I'd like to say a few special thank yous to various people

Firstly to Michelle (Screechowl) our celebrant and friend for conducting the ceremony
To Cath, for being my best friend, maid of honour and the one who started it all off by introducing me to Seán all those years ago
Next, to Morag Rose (The Mysterious LRM) with love and sparkles for a gorgeous pink and glittery cake
Then to Womble (Womble's Rants) for being our most excellent photographer
And to Daniel (The Astral Pilgrim) for being Seán's brilliant Best Man
And to Reena and the ladies of House of Raja (Fletcher Street, Bolton) for making sure we looked amazing
And to Trev, Cath's boyfriend, for driving us all to Bolton and back to the Registry Office. We got there before the groom!
And to Anne Rowson (RA Designer Jewellery in Manchester's Craft Village) for bringing my vision to life in the most perfect wedding rings
And Laurette for leading the procession so well with the Captain Pugwash theme tune!
And finally, to all our guests, family and friends who were there to share our special day, and those who weren't able to join us but sent us their best wishes.

Thank you all, you made our day!

World Naked Bike Ride 2008

Yes, it's that time of year again!

Manchester's Naked Ride will take place on Friday 13th June at around 6pm, setting off from the Basement Cafe on Lever Street. Anyone who wishes to join in or to show support will be more than welcome - particularly if you can do bodypainting! My beloved will be there, taking part again.

I don't take part myself yet, as I'm not that confident a cyclist - it's been years since I rode a bike and I haven't had much time to practice since I bought a cheap second hand one earlier this year - more on that later. Besides, someone has to mind the kids.

I'm all for it, though, for the same reasons as my beloved - his blog on the subject is here.
Firstly, it's a protest against the dominance of the car and the destruction by oil pollution of our planet's fragile ecosystems. It also highlights in a very clear way just how vulnerable cyclists are on our roads. One guy last year had "Not Invisible Now!" painted on his back. That's not to say all cyclists are sensible folks who abide by the Highway Code - we know that's not true because they are human beings and therefore just as flawed as anyone else, including car drivers.

Secondly, it's about body-positivity, celebrating the incredible diversity in shapes sizes and colours that we human beings come in. The perfect body is a myth promoted by advertisers to sell us stuff. They have to keep us insecure about our bodies (along with everything else) in order to keep us buying stuff. And they keep on finding new things to make us insecure about, as if that weren't bad enough.

Body-positivity is about acceptance of yourself and others just as they are. It's about silencing the inner critic. Of course, some people have louder and bitchier inner critics than others. That's why WNBR is Bare as You Dare - nudity is NOT compulsory, it's all down to your own comfort level. Have fun, get painted, decorate yourself and your bike in colourful ribbons and stuff. There are few things that shut up the inner critic more quickly than laughter and having fun.

So, to my friend who's reluctant to do it because she's put on a stone - I won't embarrass you by naming you - what the hell! Do it anyway! It's not a beauty contest and you look gorgeous anyway. You don't have be completely bare, but go. Have fun, and when you see the size and shape of other participants, maybe you'll feel encouraged enough to go for it anyway.