Strutting & Fretting

Well gosh what an action-packed year it has been. Exactly one year ago today I went on my first date with a rather lovely lass from Ealing¹.

As some of you may remember from the time, me going on a date in June 2007 seemed a very odd thing to be doing given recent² events. But I was right wasn't I?

I remember being rather nervous. I went to get a haircut before this monumental event and was rather shocked at the cost. What I really should have done was go out and buy some decent clothes because I was a sartorial disaster of a date.

Thankfully though several gin and tonics³ meant that my date for the evening actually seemed to ignore my terrible state of dress and instead took a shine to me. Not only that. We got on so well we completely failed to go see the movie I'd booked tickets for⁴ and instead stayed nattering in the pub until the staff threw us out because they wanted to go home.

As I said in my wedding speech in April 2008, the CCTV footage of our goodbye at Tottenham Court Road Station is probably available on YouTube. Look for it in the World's Best Kisses section.

So enamoured were we with each other that the second date came round rather quickly. A chance to treat her with dough balls at Pizza Express. We had even joked that due to her job she should probably bring along a chaperone.

It was an odd evening. Less of a date, more of a "let's hear your story so far" for each of us. But it was also an evening of romance and by the end of it we were a couple⁵.

You know you are onto a winner - so to speak - when date three follows the very next day. Could I impress my new girlfriend with my cooking? I decided to cook my sweetheart her favourite roast dinner.

And the rest...as they say...is history.

It was only a few weeks later in mid-July that I popped the question. Everything was rather quick and rather in the wrong order⁶. Yet you all know how it turned out. On April 5th 2008 we were married.

So today we're celebrating an odd anniversary, perhaps one that happened a lot in times past, but not so much nowadays. We celebrate one year together - although our first wedding anniversary isn't until spring 2009.

To say my wife makes me happy would be a gross understatement. She is a beautiful shining light in my life. A wonderful wife, an amazing mother and she cooks an amazing Lasagne⁷.

This has been an amazing year and I owe it all to that special girl who gave a grumpy northern bloke a chance. I love you honey, happy anniversary.

_{¹Let's not bother with the traditional Limerick shall we?
²ish.
³And perhaps my irrepressible charm and modesty.
⁴Oceans 13.
⁵A right couple of somethings I expect you're thinking.
⁶I should have met the in-laws before proposing, it was rather rude of me not to. But I've been forgiven.
⁷No that's not a euphemism. But if it was. The answer would still be yes.}