Jonners' Canterbury Tales

Posted on June 5, 2007 by jonners99

This morning Beth came round and we headed into Putney. We got the tube into central London after sitting by the Thames for a little while. The tube was quick and we were soon at Embankment. We walked over Hungerford Bridge where I asked Beth out a year ago.

Now would be a good time to explain the two little codes I put into the blog recently. I had hoped someone would pick up on them but no you are all lame. In the June 1st entry I put the words Mmm potatoes. The snippet of blog this cut out goes like this:
After leaving the Centre I walked through town and asked in FHinds if they had a pretty little ring from their window in a size J, the rather cranky looking woman said that Size J is very small so she doubted it. She was right, they did, however, have a size K so I decided that may be alright. I bought the ring and purchased a box for it. It has taken me about a month of looking in shop windows to build up the courage to do this but now I have in my possession a beautiful ring for my special lady. When my parents arrived home after the food shopping I waited until my mother had unpacked the shopping and then unveiled the ring to them. They wished me luck.
The second came in the June 4th entry when I wrote It must go to Mordor:
When I got in I talked to Cathy who was back after spending the day with her boyfriend on Saturday. I turned my computer on and my finger hovered on a button. The button to call Craig Blomberg. Of the four parts (buying, telling my parents, telling her parents, proposing) of proposing I anticipated this one would be hardest. It did not start well as my microphone was helpfully set to mute and so while Craig answered he could not hear me. I therefore had to call back after fixing it. The conversation was friendly and he was very happy when I told him. I was expecting a more difficult time but he made it easy on me. I greatly appreciate that.

Back to the present, when we were off Hungerford bridge we went to the shops that go with the British Film Institute. Beth looked for books for her course while I just pottered around. We walked along the bank past the London Eye. We picked up leaflets at County Hall for the Star Wars show that they have on at the moment (which looks amazing and I will just have to go to). Next we crossed Westminster bridge which appears to continually have some form of building work taking place on it. We walked past parliament and through St James’ Park. There were a lot of flags around and railings and stadium seating had been arranged by the horse guard. We went to Trafalgar Square and waited for my parents. We were there for about 10 minutes before they showed up and we took them to the Chinese we had gone to on our Anniversary, it was lovely food again and it was good to see my parents. After eating we all went off shopping and soon separated. Beth was once again looking for books from her list. We ended up at Picadilly and I went to HMV and Virgin, when we left Virgin Beth appeared ill so we hurried home. When we got to Hammersmith we were lucky enough to immediately catch a 72 bus. We got home quickly and Beth had a nap. After 45 minutes she awoke and I took her out for a walk around campus. The item that had been in my bag for the whole day now got promoted to my pocket and saw daylight on the grass by Froebel Lake. Beth was turned away from me looking over the lake as I took it from my pocket and opened it “Beth will you marry me” was pretty much what came from me as I sluggishly went to one knee. She said yes and took the ring from me. We did not have long to celebrate as our friends needed to be let into Beth’s flat for pasta. We made them wait a little while but I do not feel guilty about it. While in London I had many perfect times to propose but I could not build up the confidence to do so with so many people around. I came very close at Trafalgar Square but then Beth needed the toilet so I couldn’t. Also Hungerford and St James’ Park were prime opportunities. Surely, however, the University is the most fitting place, it is where we met and where we have spent most of our time together. It was a brilliant moment, every bit as romantic as I could have hoped for. It was just a shame that the sun was not shining on the ring.

When we turned up everyone was happy and excited for us both. We had pasta and made S’mores (sandwich with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate which are melted over a BBQ). It was a lovely and magical evening. At 8:30 Beth and I went with Shelly to Whitelands where we told Anna and Demelza who gave us cake and orange juice (poor persons champagne). We were there about an hour and Beth spent most of the time discussing with them dresses and flowers and the like. The girls were both overjoyed and Anna in particular was bouncing off the walls. We took the photos above from their flat. When we left theirs we walked back to mine and I called my parents who were very happy for us. Apparently my mother had been fretting about it all afternoon after finding I hadn’t done it before we all met up for lunch earlier in the day. I got to talk to Nanna as well which was nice and she had kind words for Beth as well. When we got to my flat we tried to call Beth’s parents but got her sister instead. At 11 I took Beth back to Froebel and kissed my Fiancé goodnight for the first time.