Bicycle Dating

Whenever anyone asks us how we met, we burst out laughing - it's such a ridiculous story. I had gone out on my bike to meet a friend. I always ride too fast and what happened this time was, as I rounded a corner, an arm appeared of nowhere. The next minute, I was flying through the air into someone's garden. Not only was I confused - I didn't know where I was for a moment and I could hear people saying 'What have you done, Ross? Do you think she's alright?' I was incredibly embarrassed. After all, I was lying in a flowerbed with a bicycle on top of me. I just wanted to crawl away and, being a redhead with fair skin who blushes really easily, I could feel this heat rising up over my face. So I scrambled to my feet, saying crossly, 'I'm fine, I'm fine,' got on my bike and tor off along the path, hoping never, ever to see the guy I'd hit and his pals again.

I did though. In a weird stroke of double fate, on my way back, I passed them again. And, hideously, my baseball cap flew off my head right in front of them. It took all my courage to go back, bashfully, and retriev it. I'd seen Ross around before but I'd never spoken to him. So when, the next day, a bunch of flowers arrived on my doorstep with a note saying, 'Have a happening day,' I knew who they were from. The florist confirmed it: yes, he was tall and blond, and he worked as a landscape gardener. It took a lot of guts but I knew I had to go and thank him in person. And I was glad I did - although my knees turned to jelly. I was blown away. We chatted for ages and a few weeks later he invited me for dinner. That was it. We've now been married 11 years. I'm a total believer in fate but what I think is that you have to build your own destiny. If Ross hadn't sent me flowers and if I hadn't gone to thank him, none of this would have happened.

Ross I had just come back from travelling, surfing and hitching round South America when I met Emma. I was feeling quite low having been mugged at gunpoint in Panama. What I remember is seeing this very striking girl with a wonderfull mane of red hair.I'd seen her around before but we'd never spoken. One day I was with two mates, walking this little alleyway and recalling some travelling tale. I must have gesticulated too wildly because, the next thing I knew, this girl was coming for me on a bike and was suddenly catapulted into a garden. On the one hand I felt dreadfull but on the other I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was - this gorgeous red hair lying underneath a bicycle. I couldn't take my eyes off her. For me the meeting was pure romance.What I did was so straight to the local florist and, because she was so indentifiable, they knew who she was and delivered flowers for her the next day. Giving flowers was easy but when she came to thank me, I was dumbstruck. I had never felt like this before - I knew she was the one. Finally, I did find the courage to ask her out - and the rest, as they say, is History.