Our Story
This is our story . . How we met and fell in love, and the adventures we've had along the way!!
Love at first sight?
'The Why Not' ~ New Year '06 / '07
Was it love at first sight? Well not exactly. . In August ‘06 Dyl and Kay met through the Internet but very quickly met in person [at a pub called 'The Why Not'] for a coffee. Before long they were meeting quite frequently, and drinking a lot of coffee. .
Quite quickly, Dyl began wondering if the two had any chemistry. .Kay’s response at the time was very polite and open. ."We're friends, I'd like to see how it goes..".
I guess at least Dyl had a hope!!!
As the festive season approached, Dyl asked Kay if she would like to celebrate New Year's Eve together. . to which, she agreed. Dyl, by now becoming quite the smooth operator, had already aquired some Chocolates and chilled a bottle of Moet & Chandon Vintage [her favourite combination] to celebrate the occasion. Kay thought he was and still is a very sweet, well mannered and thoughtful guy.
They had a wonderful time. . He really does treat her like his princess! And she treats him like her pince!
The love story began!!
Valentine's Day 07
The Valentine's Day Surprise
Obviously, Kay was very excited about this occasion and Dyl was eager not to disappoint… He secretly bought Kay a lovely card, some Thorntons chocolates and a Ted Baker hat and scarf set from House of Fraser.
Kay found the UK quite cold, but Dyl reassured her "…it will keep u warm during the UK’s unique Winter-like seasons..."
Kay bought Dyl a stripy jumper, which somehow made him look even more gorgeous…
Dyl, notorious for being a picky git, loved it!!
What do you fancy doing…?
Alton Towers Amusement Park
We always made best of the limited time we had together and planned loads of activities making doubly sure every weekend was one to remember. Researching and planning out various experiences across the Midlands, such as Alton towers here ensured that no moment was ever wasted…
Ok, so the picture above sees us both smiling away, all calm and having a good time, yeah? Well that wave of water you can see in the bottom left hand corner completely soaked my shoes, jeans and practically flooded us out!! I’m kidding, it’s just a camera trick, but I assure you there are some completely IN-SANE theme park rides at this place that will really test your nerve!! I only wish we'd had someone else to help take pics while we were on the rides… too bad, you guys will just have to take our word for it…
It has to be said, regardless of what we got up to, we were so happy together... and can make each other laugh even about even the most mundane things…
One our favourite pastimes was to take a relaxing sauna, Swedish steam & jacuzzi at Virgin Fitness, but we also enjoyed the odd visit to the ice rink and swimming pool... hey we seem pretty healthy don’t we? Oh yeah, and best not forget the Drag Racing and Car shows [zero points for guessing which were as a result of Dyl’s influence]…
Merry Merry!!
Dyl's Birthday April 2007
On my birthday, Kay surprised me with a trip to Santa Pod Raceway [how cool is that?!] to spend the day watching Dragsters thunder down a 1/4mile track, from a stand-still, in about 6seconds [to put that into perspective, a hot-hatch car like my mum's Honda Prelude 16v takes about 15secs].
She really is a very special person to encourage and indulge me in my passion like that… either that, or just as plain crazy as me!
And when we returned home from the track, she had already reserved us a treat at a lovely Italian restaurant (as can be seen right) for some amazingly top nosh. The comedy factor related this occasion was that we had taxi’d it to the restaurant and as the restaurant was a mere 2 miles from the house, we could both drink and then walk home… what we hadn’t planned on was just how impaired copious amounts of Rose over dinner can make your navigation skills!!
Despite only being 2miles, I’m certain we walked at least double with all the staggering we did on that return journey!!
Honestly honey, it was a perfect night for a walk and a lovely walk it was too… we were goofing around giggling and laughing like school kids, pausing every so often and kissing, hugging, and enjoying every second, wow what a brilliant birthday…
This is certainly one of the great memories that stands out!
Our First Holiday
Tour of Scotland ‘07
In May 2007 Dyl and I decided on visiting his family and friends in Scotland [or ‘God's Country’ as he’s consistently calls it] for our first holiday together.
We flew from Luton to Edinburgh and booked a hire car enabling us to spend minimum time travelling to Scotland and maximum time on our experience to allow us to cover this entire country in a single week. We truly had no idea just how ambitious our plan was… and as if to make matters worse, our hire car was Kia Ceed and he couldn’t stop moaning about it... Completely car crazy, he loves cars, talking about cars all the time... Luckily, I know just how to handle it, and cotton wool in the ears works perfectly!! I’m just kidding Dyl…
Our first port of call was to visit Kelly (his sister), Andrew (brother-in-law) and wee man Theo (his nephew) in Edinburgh. They were all so friendly and lovely people to meet. We stayed with them for a day and a half where we then headed up the spine of the country to Forres. It was long journey but we had such an excellent time admiring the beautiful scenery, playing I spy and listening to our favourite music tracks. When we arrived, I met Cathy (his mum), a very pretty lady who made me feel right at home during our stay in Forres. I still remember the lovely breakfast she cooked us, wow she is an amazing cook!
Dyl just couldn’t wait to show me around! He was so proud to take me to all the places he remembered from his childhood… One location I‘ll never forget is Califer View Point [pictured] where the kind weather that day allowed this awesome view of the entire Moray Firth, the city of Inverness, The Black Isle and most of the Moray Coast!! Wow, incredibly spectacular!!
We also ventured inland and got to take a visitor’s tour of Glenfiddich Whiskey Distillery, which I loved!! :-)
On the second night of our stay in Forres, Cathy took us out for a meal at Mansfield Hotel in Elgin. It was so posh! Gorgeous meal, brilliant night…
Our last day in Forres, Cathy cooked us the most amazing Sunday Roast – I recall Dyl raving about it before the holiday, and I now know exactly what he’s on about!
We continued our tour by heading through Elgin, visiting most of his friends and on towards Aberdeen so we could stop by David and Julie’s. We went out for a lovely meal and had a great tour of the city while being chauffeured around in David’s Porsche Cayenne – talk about style!!
For the return journey back to Edinburgh, we travelled down the west coast, which was just as picturesque as the journey up!
But time sure does fly when you're on holiday, and ultimately we didn't get enough time to visit everyone.. which is why we're planning a 'come-back tour' as soon as possible!!!
Scotland is truly a very beautiful place, and despite being slightly colder than England it was surprisingly mild when we were there, the weather was just perfect! Obviously is a bit cold, but a lot of sunny days!!
Car events! what? another one Dyl?!!
Rockingham, Gaydon, Santa Pod etc.
Thankfully, working for Jaguar & Land Rover keeps him happy and goes someway towards quenching his thirst for all things car related. When he's not at work or attempting to groom me with his automotive knowledge, he’s arranging automotive events for us to attend!!
One such event we enjoyed was ‘Super Car Sunday’ an annual event held at Gaydon's Heritage Centre in early June, which was truly jam packed with some of the most eye-catching cars and a live action arena where cars were performing awesome stunts, tricks and some drifty drifty too... and with ice cream weather to match, it was an excellent day!!
To be honest, Dyl feels it’s a shame only one photo may be added to each chapter of our story [and also a shame that I'm limiting him to a single chapter for the car subject!], as he has managed to amass an extraordinary amount of pictures from these events and had trouble choosing from the lot… in the end, he dismissed the likes of Ferrari’s, Porsche’s, Lamborghini’s and even a pictures of his own car in favour of this [above];
A picture of a gorgeous looking diva with some blue coloured car in the background…
...Honey!! Its called an E-Type!!
Note: In case some of Dyl’s colleagues find their way onto this website, he must disclose that the afore mentioned statement ‘some blue coloured car’ may be construed as derogatory towards the Jaguar brand, and for legal purposes, wishes to identify this car as the Jaguar E-Type ~ which in his own unbiased opinion is one of the greatest vehicles of all time [and is not in any way connected with his association with the Jaguar brand].
The E-Type also happened to be Kay’s favourite car at the event :-)
The Orchestral Performance
Kay’s Birthday Sept '07
Just a bit of background on this one... Since I was a young boy, I have always carried an affinity for classical and baroque music and when I shared this with Kay, she took a real liking to it - noted, I thought! I was also aware that she had never witnessed a live orchestral performance before, so I guess it felt like a logical choice for her birthday experience.
As Kay's birthday fell on a Tuesday in 2007, we chose to celebrate it on the Saturday before...
A bit of retail therapy during the afternoon led on to a lovely meal at the Royal Leamington Spa Regent Hotel. And as for the evening’s entertainment, I had already reserved the tickets for The Ella Chamber Orchestra's performance at Douai Abbey, near London.
I still keep a copy of the programme, which comprised of:
Chaconne by Purcell, Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings by Strauss, Capriol Suite by Warlock & Introduction & Allegro by Elgar. The final quiet piece, Cadenza del niente by Nicholas Keyworth, a work specially commission for the Abbey Church on this event.
We found it quite simply mesmerising...
Just as we were leaving the concert hall hand-in-hand, Kay told me "it was so incredibly spectacular" and ever since I have been tasked with keeping her Ipod updated with whichever classical music track the lady desires!!
Honey, it was my pleasure to have constructed the perfect day for you, and I feel truly blessed to be able to make you sooooooo happy! You more than deserve it!!
What do you fancy!??
Playing Santa…
Dyl and I were quite the organised couple when it came to Christmas present shopping, and started as early as October... I’ve heard people say things like “oh I hate all those ques and everyone rushing around to get their shopping”, but we had so much fun and really enjoyed every minute!
We listed out all the gifts and shopped around Birmingham, Leamington, Redditch and Solihull (to name but a few) practically every weekend until our list was satisfied. The event that springs to my mind is the Christmas Gala Night that took place in the Bull Ring, Birmingham at the beginning of December with Selfridges offering amazing deals on some of the most desirable designer products :-)
When it came to presents between us, things got just a bit more complicated!
The truth is, we agreed that the ‘surprise’ factor wasn’t high on our agenda, and instead our gifts to each other should be something that would last a long time and not be anything that could be consumed or worn out easily.
The biggest problem Dyl faced was what to get me! ...He kept asking what I fancied, but I really didn't know what I wanted :-( I had absolutely no idea!! After much discussion, Dyl suggested getting me a watch. I was lucky enough to already have a Folli Follie watch which I wear everyday, but Dyl stressed that it was a bit too masculine and I could do with an elegant dress watch for special occasions. So, we looked for ages and in the end I pointed out a Tissot that looked incredibly timeless. It had a mother of pearl face – simply gorgeous!
Dyl was far easier to sort out; in fact I suspect he’d already decided on his gift some time in advance! He hinted that a classy pen for his work was what he had in mind, so I bought him a Mont Blanc Doue Star Walker in Black & Platinum... and he was so overjoyed!! I love to see his smile!!
So, that was our Christmas shopping all done! And to celebrate, we chose to have an early Christmas meal :-)
The countdown to our first Christmas and first year anniversery together had begun…
