As I mentioned yesterday we had plans to attend a wedding that I wasn’t really looking forward to that much, since I knew that I wouldn’t really know anyone there. But it turned out to be quite an adventure, and a pretty good time.

The ceremony, at a church over in the beach, only lasted about 45 minutes. It had been raining for most of the day, including thunderstorms earlier that morning, so everyone was hoping that the massive thunder in the distance would stay away a few more hours. The ceremony finished around 3:45; around 3:50 the skies completely opened up. Everyone quickly jumped into their cars and began heading north toward the banquet hall where the reception was to be held.

As we drove north it became obvious that the storm had hit the northern part of the city much harder than the downtown, and bursts of it still hit us occasionally. Sheets of water were running down streets and sidewalks faster than storm drains could handle. Huge puddles had formed at major intersections. Traffic, already congested because of the normal volume heading north from the city on a Friday afternoon, was slow. It took us 45 minutes to reach a friend’s house in Markham near the reception site; as we approached the house the overturned signs, scattered branches and stalled cars showed how hard the storm had actually hit. In fact, the friend’s house was without power; another of her friends had stalled her car trying to drive through a deep puddle.

So here we were, sitting in a dark basement, not able to go outside because of the storm, relaxing for a bit before heading to the reception. We killed some time with a rousing game of “what’s your favourite colour and what’s the best thing you did this summer?” (no, seriously) before deciding to get on the road. If we’d known what traffic would be like we would have left sooner.

Traffic was at a dead crawl. The storm had closed many roads due to flooding, including the DVP, which meant that every other major route north was jammed as people escaped the city for the weekend. Add to that the intersection confusion due to the power outage killing traffic lights, and we were driving north at a pace slower than walking. We know this because several pedestrians passed us. What should have been a ten minute drive took us over an hour; thanks god we didn’t take a cab. Anyway, everyone was late, especially the bride & groom. But no harm done, everything still went off as planned: food, drink, dancing, traditional awful wedding music. On the plus side, there was a chocolate fountain and a great couple at our table with whom I could share my music snark. And they gave us a ride home!

This morning, of course, was an Eggstasy morning.