One quick question before the world ends...

HANG on a minute… mad scramble to look out of window… the world didn’t end after all!

Uh oh, it seems I’m now in a whole heap of trouble.

You see, with the fear of impending doom I might just have done something a tad crazy…

Of course I’m kidding.

In the early afternoon of Monday 17^th December 2012, at the very top of the ascension of the London Eye, looking out over my nation’s capital, I went down on one knee and asked Iliana Jaqueline Pantoja if she’d marry me.

I cried. She laughed, and then cried. And then the other people in the Eye’s capsule applauded, laughed, and cried too.

My proposal went something like this: “If the world truly does end in four days I don’t want to think that I missed the opportunity to ask if you’d marry me… So, with that in mind, will you marry me?”

Her immediate response was “Oh my god, oh my GOD…”

I obviously had to ask, “is that a yes or a no?!”

Jacks then said ‘yes’ not once, but six times.

“Yes, yes, yes… si, si, SI!!!!” she replied.

On top of the world

"If you like it then you should put a ring on it"

All those months of me freaking out about the slightest of details quickly dissolved into laughable anecdotes.

The moment was perfect. The weather on that day was crisp, clear and beautiful. We were together alone in our own private universe and, of course, she said ‘yes’.

Jacky could be heard again muttering "oh my god, oh my GOD!!!!"

That day marked the culmination of pretty much nine months of planning and preparation on my part.

From the very moment I met Jacks back in March I knew I had to have her.

After those sunny days in Playa Del Carmen for me, everything was leading up to this magical moment.

Our story is so unique and perfect. Even we find it all hard to believe. (For those who are unaware of the background click on the first blog entry).

I had a few ideas of how I wanted to propose, but I settled on proposing on the London Eye.

I liked the idea of traditionalism.

I bought the ring in Tijuana having shopped around in the UK, the US and Mexico. I liked the idea that she would be wearing something sourced from her home.

I wanted to signify our cross-Atlantic connection by proposing in my home country – and doing so while suspended above the country’s capital seemed perfect.

Moments before the proposal

My beautiful fiancée

Of course there was also the nice hook of Jacky's Mayan ancestors predicting the world ending in a few days’ time.

I know some people have raised eyebrows mentioning that we’ve only been together for little over 10 months but hey, in the (sort of) words of Beyonce “if you like it then you should put a ring on it”.

Those people can, quite simply, bugger off.

Yes, our relationship is under a year old, but the fact is I've spent 34 years looking for her. When you know, I guess, you know.

It’s funny how things work out. And it was truly bizarre that I actually bought and picked up the ring on the same day as Jacky’s sister’s boyfriend proposed to her.

Oh talking of traditions, the moment I asked Jacky’s dad for permission for his daughter’s hand in marriage was a moment of comedy genius.

I tried to ask in Spanish. But, having quickly realized I could quite easily slip up and ask for the family dog’s paw in marriage I resorted to my native tongue.

As history now dictates he agreed – he even mentioned it first which pre-empted my question.

Oh and here’s a reflection and a point that’s very rarely mentioned.

Everyone talks about THAT moment. You know, how exactly did you propose? Where were you? Did you go down on one knee? That sort of thing.

But what no-one ever talks about is what happens AFTER that moment.

Sure, there’s the hugging, kissing and crying bit. And the round of applause, if it’s a public proposal.

But how do you maintain the buzz? How do you match that level of intensity having asked the one question you hope never to ask again?

I have to admit to feeling a bit lost and in a slight flutter in the hour or so after that moment.

Should I have packed champagne? Should I be carrying her? Should I burst into song?!

Jacks was a little less intimidated it seemed, and made what now appears to be the obvious choice – to continue smiling and laughing.

There, a short distance away from the London Eye was a Mr Bean lookalike.

So we initially celebrated our engagement by goofing around with the character in front of an audience of dozens.

Mr Bean strikes again

I think that says a lot about us.

Oh, and just in case anyone thinks I’m a tight b*stard for not buying champagne, we then went on a boat cruise down the Thames followed by ice skating at the Natural History Museum. (Note: my practical interpretation of ice 'skating' was more ice falling).

Ice ice baby

Skating on thin ice

We then had dinner at an Italian restaurant at Leicester Square to reflect on the craziest day of our lives yet.

Fun times indeed.

So there you have it.

Before any more people ask ‘do you have a date?’ The answer is ‘no’.

It won’t be this year (obviously), and probably not next year.

I need to sort this job/visa thing out, and we need to save some serious cash.

Oh, and the ring is a traditional diamond solitaire ring. The ‘rock’ is just short of half a carat and the ring is 14ct white gold.

Jacky's bling

For now though I hope this brings a smile to some faces and I, well… we, hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Keep dreaming guys.

Crazy beautiful madness.

P.S. Holy shit, I have a fiancée!!!!!!!!!

'Crazy. Beautiful. Madness,' and how it all began...

I must have told this story a few thousand times already but hey... I still can’t believe it so it helps to tell it again and again!

For those people that think I’m crazy to just up sticks and move to Mexico to be with a girl you’ve never heard of, consider this:

Jacky – she’s actually call ‘Illiana’ but prefers her middle name of ‘Jacky’ - and I first ‘met’ seven YEARS ago when she sent me a friend request on Myspace.

I didn’t actually understand the whole social networking thing until my girlfriend at the time told me it was ‘the future’, and so set me up with the Myspace account.

Jacky – who is Mexican – stumbled across my profile, thought I sounded interesting, and added me.

For the next seven years we emailed back and forth as friends sometimes several times a day, sometimes weekly and sometimes monthly.
We talked about work, play, friendships, relationships, the sugar in our cafe con leche, the sun in the sky... everything.
We talked about meeting up throughout, and in March this year we did just that.

We’d both come out of relationships and figured it’d be nice to meet, given that we could simply start over as friends and talk about things without any preconceptions about anything!

We’d only ever emailed. We only spoke once on the phone briefly a few weeks before I flew out, and we’d never ever met.

Needless to say as soon as we met on holiday in Playa del Carmen in Mexico, it was immediately obvious that something magical was going on.

She was quite simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and when I asked her where she’d been all my life she replied “I’ve been waiting for you”.

I can’t reiterate enough that we met simply as ‘friends’, and nothing more.

There was no agenda or anything. It was simply two people from two very different worlds wanting to take a breather, and meet.

For the record I was actually seeing someone at the time and, as soon as I met Jacky, I had to end that as it was pretty obvious that something crazy was going on!

I was a gentleman throughout, and it wasn’t until Jacky wrote ‘te amo’ (Spanish for ‘I love you’) in the sand that I realised that my feelings for her were mutual.
On that cloudy day in Playa Del Carmen she said I would get a kiss every time the sun came out. I've never wished for sunshine so much in my life. It turned into the sunniest day we've both ever known.
Needless to say there were plenty of tears when the days neared for me to fly home.

Any fear about her not feeling the same as me was however quickly distinguished when she asked me if we have 'pinky promises' in England....
"You have pinky promises in Mexico?!" I asked.
To cut a long story short Jacky simply said "well my pinky promise to you is that now I have met you, I want no-one else. I will wait as long as it takes to be with you..."
After 11 days I flew back to the UK feeling that I had left my right arm in Mexico.

I walked into my house and immediately said to myself ‘I don’t want to be here anymore’.

So... four days after I got back to the UK, I re-booked my flight and flew back out two weeks later to meet her parents to tell them how I felt.

I then spent 11 days in Tijuana with Jacky and her family and we decided that the only way this was going to work was if one of us made some pretty major changes.

Since getting back from Afghan last summer I’d been pretty bored, so we didn’t even discuss her coming here to the UK.

I’d wanted a challenge, and a beautiful girl to love me, so it was perfect.

People always bullsh*t on about “it wasn’t an easy decision” to do this or that, but this was easy.

Having spent 34 years in and around Plymouth, and nearly 13 years at The Herald, the time is right to move on.

Besides, everyone is settling down getting married and having children and I feel like I’ve been sat staring at the clock waiting for each hour to pass hoping that the next day will bring something better than the last.

I’ve done some crazy crazy things at work. But job done, and I’ve got the medal.

So there you have it.

Boy meets girl and girl meets boy, worlds collide and I’m moving to Mexico.

'Crazy. Beautiful. Madness'. That’s what we call it.
Oh, and did I mention we have the same birthday? February 17th. Weird huh?
I'm not that naive to think that things could go wrong but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Sometimes showing your hand is the best way to prove your worth. And I don't want to ever feel like I've missed a chance which fate has given me.
I've never been so sure about anything or anyone in my life.
In fact, the only time I felt 'uncertain' about her was when - an hour away from touching down in Cancun on my way to meet her - an American tourist asked (upon hearing the story)... "you've seen pictures of her right?! Well... you sure she's not a midget?!"
You know I'd pondered a lot of eventualities but, up until that point, I hadn't considered that she might actually be a dwarf-type person.
Thankfully, she wasn't.

Anyhow I thought I’d write this to fill in the gaps for those that don’t know our story.

Over the coming months I’ll update this blog to keep people in the loop about how an English boy settles in Mexico.

I’ll be over there for six months (on a 180-day tourist visa) learning Spanish properly, and simply being a boyfriend. I’m not planning to work just yet, I’m simply looking to take my foot off the gas and relax.

I’ll be back in the UK in December for a ‘holiday’ before I jet back with the intention of cracking America.

So there you have it. There’s the reason. Nice eh?