From Desert Heat to Arctic Cold!

This was my third year at the Rugby Sevens. It’s always a great occasion and once again, it didn’t disappoint. Our team, the “Pie and Pint Pilgrims” won one game out of four (probably faring considerably better in the bar) and England pulled off a memorable victory after a shaky start. However, the Rugby wasn’t my only reason for being in Dubai this year.

My girlfriend, Alison had joined me for the Sevens and we were both due to stay on afterwards to celebrate her birthday as far as she knew! But, again this was hopefully not the only cause for celebration. That night, we had a nice meal at a very romantic restaurant at the end of a jetty in the Persian Gulf. After the meal, I plucked up the courage and proposed (imagine a crap South London version of Hugh Grant). Halfway through a rather clumsy speech, I was relieved to be cut-off by Alison saying, “Yes” and I’m extremely happy and proud to say that my girlfriend is now my “fiancée”!

The rest of the holiday was like an extended engagement party for the two of us. We spent our days on the beach or by the pool and our evenings sightseeing or visiting swish nightclubs. The weather was beautiful (as always) and I can honestly say that I didn’t want to come back. But sadly, all good things come to an end and we landed back at a freezing Heathrow two Fridays ago. We spent that weekend celebrating Ali’s birthday and the engagement with our families before getting right back into it.

Training was quite sparse last week even before the snow hit. On Monday GBWR had a pathway meeting to outline the plan for the next two years leading up to London and on Thursday I was interviewed and had lunch with the “News of the World” editorial team for the Team 2012 Facebook Hub. That coupled with the “Lady Gaga” gig in the evening made my weekend considerably longer than normal. I spent all day Friday finishing off my Christmas shopping and the snow helped for once by thinning the crowds at Bluewater. I wound up in Kensington on Saturday night after another concert at Earls Court and was pretty exhausted by Sunday. I have to say that my social life is rarely that colourful, but it’s certainly fun once in a while!

This week has been somewhat of a write-off so far but I’m hoping to get some training done before Christmas as I start to feel very lazy very quickly just sitting around! I won’t be posting until the New Year now but I’ll be letting you know all about my Christmas including a very swanky black tie reception with one of my sponsors, “Chaucer” at the Waldorf in London this Thursday.

…Finally, to everyone reading this have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope to see you all back here in 2011.

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