Passing through central London to catch a train north, I found the city full of hen nights and stag parties.
Men in Hawaiian shirts or dressed as nuns. Women in sashes, tiaras, or dressed as nuns.
In Edinburgh, at the end of my journey, I found a similar scene – large groups of boys and girls dressed up, drunk and hell-bent on having a good time.
There was a time when I would frown at these gangs impeding my journey; the drunkenness, the fruity language, the outfits. (I did still frown at the man sporting his trousers halfway down his buttocks – it wasn’t clear if this was fashion or fancy dress.)
Maybe it’s middle-aged mellowing but, more likely, it’s a post-pandemic feeling that makes me much more indulgent. It’s a joy to see a slew of stags and hens flood every drinking den, race course, city spa, karting track and whatever other entertainment they can book, now that restrictions have been lifted.
This year will be the first proper wedding season in three years, inevitably preceded by a pent-up wave of stag and hen parties.
Weddings are hinge moments
Weddings are always hinge moments for all concerned. The happy couple begin their new life together and their vows bring an end to selfish youth. And that step into a new chapter of their life will close the book on some relationships.
It seems appropriate that gangs of drunk nuns cropping up in city centre Wetherspoons across the UK herald a national hinge moment
I went to a friend’s country wedding 10 years ago; she enjoyed the rural setting so much that the newlyweds moved there and, between work, young families and infrequent train services, I haven’t seen them in person since.
But, it can also be a beginning. It’s special for bride and groom to bring together guests from across every area of their life – relations close and distant, friends old and new.
That mix can spark new relationships, whether it be something romantic, as per Four Weddings and a Funeral, or a Facebook friendship like the one I started with an interesting chap I was sat with at a recent wedding who is expert in the all-but-defunct Cornish language.
So, it seems appropriate that gangs of drunk nuns cropping up in city centre Wetherspoons across the UK herald a national hinge moment.
As people return to a proper summer of gathering, boozing, celebrating, marrying, it surely signals the end of the pandemic and the start of something new.
It’s in everyone’s hands whether what comes next for the country is more akin to the morning after a stag do, or the day after a wedding – a hangover and a lost deposit at the fancy dress shop, or a new future rooted in friendship, partnership and love.
James Millar is a political commentator, author and a former Westminster correspondent for The Sunday Post
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