Day 213 - Goodbye to Cornwall on Harry and Megan's Big Day

Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for pomp and circumstance...traditions...any reason to celebrate. So, of course I was going to watch the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan, and I was going to watch it live. Only problem with this idea was that we were checking out of our Cornish cottage and were due to be on a train at 11:59 a.m. local time, literally one minute before the event was to start in full.

We'd packed up the night before, everything into each of our carry-on sized luggage and backpacks. Then it was a slow climb up out of Cawsand to catch the 9:22 morning bus into Plymouth. I'd already been preparing myself for the big event, having turned on the television as soon as I woke up in the morning. If you aren't a royal watcher, you would have been sick of the coverage even before the day started. It is actually hard to believe that the FA Cup was taking place on the same day...you had to look for that coverage.

I have an overabundance of data coverage remaining on my cell phone, so I was able to don a headset and watch the pre-event coverage without worry. I was disappointed that the car we had on the train was not bedecked with bunting and that a member of the rail staff was not walking down the aisle dispensing complimentary glasses of bubbly. Now, you could put that down to the reserved nature of the Brits, and I would believe that if I hadn't already witnessed the number of decorated shops and the pubs and tea rooms that were hosting wedding-watching events. So, why the British rail system couldn't keep up, I'll never know.

The live-stream coverage of the wedding was excellent on my phone, although as any fellow skeptic will guess, at all the high points, we did rather inconveniently find ourselves going through a tunnel. So, I did miss a few key moments.

My verdict: a fairytale wedding that seemed to go off perfectly. I was smiling, tearing up, glued to the screen ... all I ever ask for in a good movie. As Phil and I head toward our 30th wedding anniversary, I found myself hoping Harry and Meghan will have years of happiness and find as much joy in being with each other as we have.

Before I knew it, we were in Farnham, Surrey, the town in which we lived for three years over a decade ago. If felt like coming home. But for some strange reason, I had an urge to eat cake and dance the night away...if only that Royal invite hadn't got lost in the mail.