A rainy day. Men, women and children dressing up as large puppets. What more excuse do I need to go try my Flip video out a little more? Needless to say – I should probably have written a properly timed script to record this 😉

Originally posted on tall-rich.vox.com

Saturday morning and I’m so happy that Sarah said yes. I was pretty sure she would, but you never know till you ask!

Some months previously her best friend’s fiancée had proposed and had chosen a ring. Lovely as that idea would be, Sarah had hinted that were I ever to ask her, she’d rather choose herself.

So, off to Hatton Garden it was then. I’ve never been anywhere quite so bewildering in my life – the sheer number and range of shops there is amazing. Up and down we wandered, not knowing quite where to start. Then we finally braved our first shop. Sarah had been after gold; I wasn’t so sure; but we did agree we wanted something a little different and that didn’t stick out too much. The manager was very helpful – out came a range of rings, and Sarah tried several on before deciding that yes, platinum was very nice, thank you very much.

It took an hour or so more to traipse up and down looking at other rings, but none of them quite matched up. We did go into three other shops before finally settling back on the first shop (if not the first ring) that Sarah tried on. Honour having been served (it was more than she wanted me to spend but less than I was willing to spend) we did the necessary and went off for lunch whilst they resized it slightly. And hey presto, back to St Albans with a very sparkly ring and a very happy Richard and Sarah.

April 20th, 2007. Eighteen months since our first date, and it’s Sarah’s turn to book a ’special celebration’ (we seem to take it in turns – significant anniversaries, Valentine’s etc).

She’s booked dinner for us at St Michael’s Manor, one of the three top restaurants in St Albans.

After a hectic day at work it was lovely to settle down in the conservatory restaurant and just enjoy some delicious food in relaxing surroundings. I hope I had managed to come across relaxed, though I wasn’t entirely sure… because something was pressing on my mind.

After desert it was time. “Shall we go home now? Or do you fancy a walk around the garden?” – I had spied a little platform, pictured above, over the lake. Just the place – sparkly lights, water, and a quiet crisp atmosphere.

“I’m very lucky to have had you as my girlfriend for eighteen months. But I’m not sure I want a girlfriend any more… I might prefer a fiancée.” (drops to one knee) “Sarah, will you marry me?” After a few tears “Yes!”

And then of course we had to come home and tell Phoebe the news – that she could tell the other cats that her humans were getting married. And of course to open the bottle of fizz lurking in the fridge for this very reason. Phoebe even licked some of it off our fingers, so she could join in the celebration too!