Girls, if you are anything like the girls I have met over the last 5 days, you may as well just skip the following story & proceed directly to the pictures of the ring at the bottom of this post.
——————–

Why would you propose a couple of days before your exams start?

Some might ask.

(Why would you write a blog about it at 11pm the night before your worst exam?)

Others might also query…. to that question there is no answer!
As to the first question, people want to know, so here’s the story.

The fact that a proposal was going to happen was no great secret. My parents suspected it, Shona’s parents had a discussion with me about it & Shona herself knew that the time was coming. Once you know that it’s coming, the question becomes “When?”
I figure that any guy has two responsibilities on such occasions.
1: Make it memorable.
2: If you can, make it a surprise (The actual day, that is, not the fact that you intended to propose…)
I had plans and thoughts about how I could make the whole thing memorable. I was going to wait till just after my birthday & I was going to make a whole day out of it.
The problem was, I had the feeling that Shona was expecting things to happen on the same day! Lots of column a), but none of column b).
Cut to last thursday morning. I had the ring in a draw, I had some plans in my head & then I got to thinking.

Shona’s expecting me to be studying all day and night. She’s steeled to the fact that I am pretty much incommunicado for the next week and a half. You know, this has to be the perfect time to pop the question!

So I sms’d her & arranged for an evening “Study Break” when we were going to take pictures in the city.
I picked her up, we headed in & got a nice, quiet wharf with a great view. I played it cool & we took some snaps. Then I suggested we get a couple of shots of us together. After firing off a couple of these, I went to get something out of my camera bag.
One ring, one knee, one question and one answer later, the deed was done. Then, thanks to my big camera bag & tripod case, one bottle of Champagne, one box of chocolates and two glasses appeared & we had a chance to enjoy ourselves & revel in a new public status.
So there you are. Surprise was the goal, and surprise was achieved!
Finally, as requested, here are a couple of shots of the ring.