Thursday, October 14, 2010

CT2, 5 and 8.

The October sitting of Actuarial exams saw Dave's biggest challenge to date. CT2, CT5 and CT8, aka Finance and Financial Reporting, Contingencies and Financial Economics.

The pressue was mounting for several reasons. CT8 had a reputation for being a troublesome beast, with a lower pass rate than the other CTs, it was also being taken by his company's latest recruit which meant potential loss of "face" if he failed and she passed, CT2 was more of an essay based exam which took Dave further from his comfort zone, CT5 was about Life and Pensions which Dave had no experience in, the October sitting of exams had less time to study and he still had a 100% success rate to maintain.

It was, therefore, with a sigh of relief that after the week of exams was over Dave thought quietly to himself,

'Nailed it.'

He wouldn't get the results until December, but Dave was already looking forward. With only one more brief stop in February for CT9 he was on his way to the big boy exams of the STs and CAs.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mr and Dr Exall

September 18th 2010, Dave woke up with a smile at around 10am. Afterall, he had plenty of things to smile about.

He had spent the night in the beautiful little town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. It was a little place in the country with a population of around 4,500 (Dave counted) that had grown out of its water powered weaving mills in the 19th century due to its plentiful supply of both water and sheep.

It was gorgeous.

More specifically, he had spent the night in the very cosy home of one of Freddie's friends. Having never met Dave or any of his crew, this lady had volunteered to let them use her place in Hebden free of charge for the weekend while she was away. Everything about the house echoed the warmth of her gesture making it a lovely place to be.

Even more specifically, Dave had spent the night cuddled up to Bian on the sofa bed while Jean and her mum slept peacefully in the bedroom. If a night with Bian doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.

And in addition to all that, in a few hours he would witness the long awaited marriage of Freddie and Sarah.

It was a good day.

The wedding itself was in the National Trust grounds of East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley, just down the road from Hebden Bridge. The hall was built in 1642 by James Murgatroyd from the money he made from sheep.

Taxi's had been pre-booked and paid for to get the group there and back again and arrived perfectly on schedule at 1pm. It made one brief stop on the way there for Bian to be violently sick but otherwise arrived without issue into the grounds at a little before 2pm. It turns out Bian gets travel sickness. Either that, or he had just had a flashback to last night.

Needless to say the grounds were amazing and they have made several TV appearences, most notably in the 1992 film Wuthering Hights. More recently they also appeared on Most Haunted, as the grounds are apparently normally packed full of ghosts. However, as it wasn't that big a wedding only a handful of them were invited.

The service itself was short and sweet, with the incredibly lucky Freddie watching as Sarah walked down the aisle to the tune of "Stand by Me" in a stunning dress and an even more stunning smile. With a ring, a kiss and a signiture it was official.

Congratulations to the newly weds! They made a wonderful couple.

And so, just several weeks before all of Freddie's hard work finally saw him finish his PhD and enter into the Doctorhood, Sarah became the first Dr Exall of the family.

Following the service came the feast, and in keeping with everything else it was fantastic. The very best in free range meat was enjoyed by all, while Freddie gave his speach in the background.

mmmm.... free range....

There was drinking and dancing, more food, more dancing and much merriment for the rest of the night.

And, of cause, the icing on the cake came in the form of icing on a cake. The wedding cake was an absolutely delicious chocolate delight and it was only with the upmost restrain and the knowledge that Jean would probably kill him that Dave stopped himself from just eating the whole thing by himself.

At the end of a wonderful day, the happy couple left for their honeymoon in Wales and the quartet returned to Hebden Bridge, were Dave spent the remainder of the night cuddled back up to Bian.

And the smile on Dave's face was still there.