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His name is Ali, he recently became a husband

7 March 2007, around 3pm… Ali quickly stands to his feet as two new guests arrive at the near-water beer garden where he and his new wife and some of the wedding party are drinking beer and wine in the mid-week, mid-afternoon sun.

His handshake is firm, but not too firm, as he greets one of the guests for the first time. He is tall, broad-shouldered, solid and with a shaved head, and his eyes are covered by dark, thin-lined glasses - all of which makes for an almost fearful presence on first sight.

Ali ensures that the newcomers have somewhere to sit, and something to drink. He eagerly engages them in conversation.

“So how do you know Matt?” he asks the new guest he has met for the first time. He listens intently as the story is told through vague memories and hopeful recollections. Ali doesn’t jeer, jest or tease, but allows the story to unfold.

After a while he pulls his digital camera from his pocket and takes a photo of his good friend and the new guest. He wants to remember today.

His new wife and two female friends venture across the road to make the most of their British pounds while the Australian summer sales are still on. Ali shifts his sunglasses onto the top of his head and pulls his chair closer to the new guest in quick response to a request to see the wedding pictures from the weekend before.

“We got married underneath a huge willow tree,” he says with slight emotion choking his Scottish vowels. On the digital camera’s big screen, the kilted Ali and his soon-to-be wife are holding hands amongst a willow’s long branches. The bride and groom stare into each other’s eyes, as if no-one else is around.

“I haven’t seen these yet,” Ali says, allowing his eyes to swell. He flicks to a close-up of the vow-moment, then to the wedding kiss and then stops on a head-to-toe picture of his blonde bride wearing a strapless, white dress. “She is beautiful.”

Jodi and Ali met in Edinburgh a few years ago, possibly at a bar, or through friends. He was a local, running his own landscaping business. She was a foreign girl, in town to work for an advertising agency. For many years they were friends, with benefits.

One day she decided it was time to return home. She booked her flight, and then registered her details on a number of online dating websites. But luckily he followed, and made the manly grand gesture of a marriage proposal while they were enjoying the benefits of their friendship while travelling the Great Ocean Road.

His wife returns with a new brown paper bag. She holds up a teal green V-neck top. “I miss the shopping here,” she says with a warm smile of reminiscence. Not too long later she returns to the shop to buy a pricey, but perfect pair of black pants.

Mid-afternoon becomes late-afternoon and group readies to pay-up and move onto evening plans. Ali’s redheaded friend in the tartan mini becomes anxious and frustrated with her smitten Norwich-born boyfriend for their ongoing departure delay. She’s concerned she will not return the borrowed car to her generous hosts in time.

Ali continues to participate in table conversation, but keeps fatherly eye on the passionate, arguing couple. He excuses himself at the sight of possible argument acceleration. His new wife whisks the girl towards the car, while Ali keeps her quietened boyfriend gently nearby. The group exchange goodbyes, and Ali offers apologies.

“I wish we had met before – I would have loved for you to have been at our wedding,” Ali says to the new guest he had met only a few hours before. “It was such a wonderful day.”

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