Emma: Thank you all for coming, sharing today with all of our favourite people has been really important to us, so we thought that we’d also like to share the story of how this love began.
Sam: Emma will tell you that we first met on the 2nd September 2007, but we actually met a couple of times before this. The first time I tried to make polite conversation with her as I walked past her at a bus stop but she gave me a dirty look. The second time, me and a friend were driving past her at a bus stop, and we beeped the horn to get her attention. She again, gave us a dirty look. These events would set the tone for the rest of our relationship, since she doesn’t hide her displeasure very often, and took so long to pass her driving test that she’d often be spotted at a bus stop.
But, all good fairy-tale events happen in threes, and the third bus-stop-meeting outside Bar-de-Muse in Greenwich was my most successful. I used my sharp chat-up lines (“I like your jacket”), and getting her number was easy… unlike her as I was to find out!
Emma: We first met exactly 6 years and 11 months ago, on the 2nd September 2007, outside Bar-de-muse in Greenwich. I was travelling home after a party and was a bit tipsy, so it was not much of a surprise that I ended up giving my number to a strange man.
But a week later, when we were due to meet up on our first date I got cold feet and decided that I hated men. Despite telling Sam that I had got back with an ex-boyfriend, he used his excellent lie-detecting skills, called my bluff, and persuaded me to come out. I text Leonie to let her know where I was going, just in case. I think my text read something like: “Hi Sheridan, I’m just letting you know that I’m going on a date in Greenwich with some guy. In the event that I disappear, that’s where they should start looking for my body.”
Sam: Emma had a really good time on our first date. She was really interested in my love of animals, and I could tell she was impressed with my conversation. When she excused herself, I patted myself on the back for having made such a good first impression.
Emma: Sam seemed nice, but would not stop talking about animals, which was getting tiresome, so I excused myself. In the loo I text Leonie again to let her know that I was okay and that I didn’t think they’d need to send out a search party for me after all.