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| The finishing straight (Image courtesy of www.grandnational.org) |
The National is held at Liverpool's Aintree race course every year & is arguably THE most well known horse race, with an estimated 500 - 600 million people watching it on TV Worldwide.
We decided to make a weekend of it. My girlfriend & myself met my sister & her partner in Liverpool & stayed for the weekend. We are all big Beatles fans, so as well as seeing the race, we heading to the famous Cavern club in the evening, where the Beatles used to play in the early days. The weekend was to be like no other though. A very memorable One to say the least.
I had decided that this was going to be the weekend that I did the honourable thing and finally propose to my girlfriend of 7 years. I had seen the ring I wanted all I had to do was get it & do the deed.
I had intended to do it in Rome, a month before, but my girlfriend fell ill a few days before we were due to go & so we didn't make it.
I had worried that the national might be a tacky place to do it, but Yvonne's friends & my family convinced me that what I had planned was just right.
The first task though was to get the ring. The shop was inside the departure lounge of the airport. I had to get it on the way over to the UK. Of course the problem with that was that Yvonne was with me. However, my cunning sister had a plan.
She rang my girlfriend telling her that she really, really needed a horse matching necklace & bracelet set from a specific shop in the airport, asking Yvonne to pick it up for her on the way through. This of course couldn't wait & she had to have it there & then. Suffice to say that no such necklace & bracelet set existed, but it gave me just enough time to pick up the ring & get it set before I met up with my unsuspecting future wife. It was touch & go though. I was sweating buckets as they went about their business, polishing the Diamond & carefully setting it into the band that I hoped would be the right size. My fingers were crossed that Yvonne wouldn't get bored & come looking for me. Thankfully, they managed it & got back to her at the end of her wild Goose chase.
However, unbeknown to all of us, as my sister was helping plan my engagement, her partner had been organising his own little proposal. On the way up to Aintree, my sister & Rory stopped off at Winsor & he popped the question himself. It was a huge coincidence as he'd apparently planned this for months.
The day itself went swimmingly, despite my nerves. After a hearty breakfast, the Four of us headed to the race course. The weather wasn't perfect, but the rain held off & my plan was executed.
I had explained what I'd wanted to do to my sister & her now fiance & they agreed they would help. I wanted to do make my move as the winner crossed the finish line.
We were right in front of the main Grand stand, in line with the finish, so as the horses came by & I pulled the ring out of my pocket, Sophie & Rory ensured that my girlfriend faced the action, whilst I got down on One knee behind, so that she couldn't see what I was up to. & then we did it. Thank god she said yes as the whole crowd around us gazed in bewilderment at what I'd just done!
The funny thing is that we thought all our horses had come in at Once, so to speak. We were in jubilant celebration as we thought our horse had just won the National too. It turns out that the commentator had got the wrong horse though ours had actually fallen a couple of hurdles before! This didn't dampen our spirits though. To coin a phrase that others have used since hearing our good news, I still picked a winner.
A wonderful weekend & One we'll never forget. Now I just need to convince her to get married somewhere unusually & I can fill in task number 88!
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