Yesterday was the 21st of June. It marked our 17th anniversary. (Radio likes to ignore the ‘anni’ part of the word, celebrating every month instead.)

Of course, I had no idea, but she sent me a sweet text in the morning to say “happy 12 + 5 … 17th anniversary!”

In our relationship, though, that date will hold a lot more significance, since it marked a series of steps towards our future.

For a start, Radio’s hatred of rail-replacement buses, although a lifelong state, I fear, will soon be of no consequence, since it marked the first day that I picked her up in our new, internally-decked-out-in-leather~! car. Whilst I still work weekends we’ll have some problems, but I’m not long for that job now. No sir, the weekends are going to be our time to do things now.

Secondly, it was my first time of meeting her parents. Well, second really, but the first time was under stressful personal conditions during an emergency, so there was no conversation. You know what? We got on great guns, in spite of my habitual unpunctuality. Radio was surprised at how conversant her dad was, since he’s a very introverted chap by nature, and her mom and I were bouncing conversation between the pair of us like a bunch of old friends. I’d bought her a bouquet of carnations, just to make a good impression, but it appeared superfluous.

Thirdly, it was Radio’s first time meeting my extended family. she’s bumped into my parents before, and has had a couple of chats with my mum, but this was the deep end. The poor thing had asked me whether she would have to dress up: I couldn’t stop from laughing. She would find out why later.

I had offered to take my sister and her husband, so off we went to their palace. Radio was aghast at the size of their kitchen and garden. I’m used to it, and I was aghast too They’ve worked hard for it. Unfortunately for us, Bubba was staying with one of his grandmas so I was deprived of a wrestle with my favourite hobby

Matt and Juice reckoned that they knew the venue, so they were in charge of navigation. Well, we didn’t recognise anyone, which made us apprehensive, until I caught a glimpse of Aunty Bet. There soon followed the first in a collection of bald heads and fat bellies that Radio was going to have to be introduced to. On seeing this collection of clones, she soon understood why I found it hilarious that she was curious about dressing up.

She suddenly understood everything about why I’m so desperate not to lose any hair. I’d told her about the family curse, but it wasn’t until she saw the collection of slap heads standing in a corner that she realised quite how accurate I was being in saying that mum has seven brothers … each of whom lost his hair in his late twenties/early thirties. She quickly checked whether I’d taken my finistride today, and told me I’m not to miss a gym session, since she can see what I’m destined to become!

Well, we left earlier than we perhaps should have. Neither of us sees the point in small talk. She’d survived her ordeal very well, particularly one uncles repeated attempts to get me away in Amsterdam.

And that took us on to today. The weather looked promising, so we decided to revisit Bradgate Park, where we had seen deer and ducks about a fortnight before. As soon as we got in we bumped into a large group of ducks, and Radio got straight to work.

She must’ve had a dozen or more ducks coming to her.

We walked off, hoping to come across some deer. There were plenty of tame beasts patrolling last time, but we failed to see any on this walk.

Next came the challenge of climbing to see Old John. That’s not a person, by the way. It’s a tower that looks like an upturned tankard.

We went off to a village pub to grab some food. It was pricey, it was far too much to eat, but it tasted very good. One 54-minute journey later, we were back in Birmingham, I sat down with her parents again, and things went very well once more.

All in all this was a watershed weekend for us. We’ve both done the family thing, we’re independent of public transport, and the only hurdle to cross now about being a “normal” or “proper” couple is sorting out the accommodation. All being well, that bridge will be traversed in two or three months’ time, then we’re on to the future. Kinda daunting really, though I’m greatly looking forward to it.

Tags: Bradgate Park, Ducks

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 9:13 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.