you see several months ago we went to england for my niece's wedding.
the reception afterwards was a lovely outdoorsy event and a good time was had by all.
when i was in the taxi on the way home i went to twiddle my wedding band on my little finger, which is my habit, and with a heart stopping shock i realized that it was gone!!
i should explain, my wedding band was worn on the little finger of my right hand for these last few years. over the years i think it shrunk (!) and it didn't fit my finger anymore.
so i started wearing a bigger wedding band and because i couldn't not wear my 'real' one i just transferred it to my right hand.
it was more noticeable to me on my right hand too.
once that ring graduated to my right little finger i noticed it all the time.
i twirled it constantly.
when i needed to think, i turned it around and around.
so imagine my shock when i realized it was GONE!
truth be told it was getting a bit too big and it had fallen off a couple of times but i'd always caught it.
i thought i was very careful.
when i wasn't twiddling it, my thumb grazed it every few seconds to check it was still there.
i'm still doing that now, six months later.
it's like a phantom leg that's been amputated.
i was absolutely devastated.
last year we were married 40 years.
that wedding ring cost 10 guineas 40 years ago.
guineas?
a guinea was worth one pound and one shilling in 1971 (way before YOU were born) and before decimalisation.
it didn't matter how much it cost and i've always suspected that i wasn't its first owner either.
inscribed inside the band was the word "Lucky".
i never knew why that was there or who put it there and it took me a few years to notice it.
when i did, i was baffled that i'd not noticed it before.
i'd always thought it just appeared out of nowhere at some point.
but wasn't that a good omen?
apparently only for 40 years.
and then my luck ran out.
my brother and his wife had some people go over the field with a metal detector once i'd discovered my loss after the wedding.
i went up when the crew came to take down the marquee and i personally went through the bins and looked in the trailers that housed the toilets.
i went through the rubbish bags and that wasn't pretty.
but
i didn't find it.
so back to the dogs.
my brother and his wife have two lovely labradors.
they will eat ANYTHING.
but only if they're not supposed to.
my only hope is that one of them will snuffle through the grass one day, find it and eat it.
then they'll lay a golden egg.
what're the chances do you think?
too late now, probably got eaten by the horse in the next field later on that week.
hmm, wonder if HE laid a golden egg?
