The Question

Five years ago today I asked my now Wife a question. Back then she was Girlfriend. We had gone to Dublin for a weekend away to see a band from my youth, little did she know I had other plans for the holiday also.

The band were playing two shows over the weekend, we had tickets for the Saturday but not the Sunday. After reliving my teenage years along with a load of other thirty year olds at the front of the crowd we left the gig at which point a German fan who I had helped crowd surf asked if he would see us the following night.

I said that he wouldn't even though he was fairly insistent, though my wife offerred that we could as we had no set plans apart from a walk outside the city the next day. Little did she know I was worrying about finding a suitable location to ask her something and also desperately trying to relocate my pin number for my credit card in case I needed to buy something expensive.

The next day we got the train out of Dublin and not really knowing where we were going visited a few rather ropey, unromantic places. I started to worry that the appropriate time and place would not arise. Undetered I made some excuse to go off on my own to make a call to her parents who were not in. A while later I made some more excuses and tried and tried again, each time slightly more nervous than before.

After a while I think Girlfriend must have thought I was ill, slipping off all these times. Anyway I did get through and so I got to ask them permission to ask the question. I remember hiding behind a big rug hanging up in a strange outdoor market as I spoke to them peering round it to check Girlfriend was still far away eating some chips.

So with my first yes of the day under my belt we got back on the train and headed for Killiney Hill Park. As we approached the top of the hill I saw the Obelisk at the top was covered in blue tarpaulin and scaffolding, not the best view. It did not matter though as the view from the top was amazing. On one side was the beautiful coast and the other overlooked the city of Dublin.

We sat for a bit. There were some tourists about who would not leave our vacinity, Girlfriend said it was time to go. She noticed me hesitate, I then reached into my pocket, pulled out a little monkey ring box and went down on one knee.

I got my second (and best ever) yes of the day!

We took a picture of the question re-enactment that Girlfriend sent to the Guardian for the readers year in pictures. We then forgot about it until a friend called us up to tell us we were in the paper at the end of the year. It was a good way to announce the engagement.