You would think with a global pandemic going on, that I would have penned more of these A Year Ago posts with some introspective pieces or at least with some lessons that I have learnt during the lockdown. Or anything really. Instead, I am one of those people who have noticed very little differences to my day to day life – even with the strict levels of the lockdown.
While most people have been having negative after negative experiences, 2020 has been a rather good year for me. Not to say I have not suffered any losses, because I have, some big, some small, but overall this year has proven to be a starting point. Which brings us to this post.
Le boyfriend graduated and is finally a mechanical engineer. He has since also upgraded from his status as le boyfriend to le fiance. YES! I finally got engaged. After eight and a bit years, we finally decided to be officially engaged – ignore the fact that I gave him a deadline and that we had basically been engaged unofficially for a while already. Main point, one month ago, 15 July 2020 he got down on his knee and honestly asked me to marry him. He is honestly such a sweetie.
I had also been toying around with the idea of travelling around the world, but in a way that we can realistically afford for now and with the whole pandemic thing. So I settled on ‘World Travel in my City’. So once a month between le fiance and I, we shall be choosing a different country and finding a way to ‘explore’ that country, within our own city. Whether that be a traditional dish, activity or even a street sign, I am game.
Today’s destination was Spain through one of their traditional dishes, Paella. I had originally chosen Korea for today but made the switch as we had finally located a restaurant that still had paella on the menu and le fiance had been craving it for months. The lockdown has led to restaurants cutting down on their options, which meant our usual paella suppliers were no longer supplying.
We headed off to the restaurant which is located inside of a casino, with cobblestone flooring. A factor, I had not considered when I donned my heeled boots. After 40 minutes in a car, we finally reached the casino and easily found parking.
Upon entrance, we had to sanitise our hands and get our temperature checked. We were then free to enter and wander the walkways until we found our desired restaurant. It was not long before we were seated and had placed our orders.
Ah finally, the Spanish dish is found and obtained at the Italian restaurant. After months of nagging and craving, Le fiance finally got his paella. 
Even with the ban on the sale of alcohol, it did not stop me from ordering my standard ‘date drink’, the Strawberry Daiquiri. Alcohol-free as I almost always have it anyway. Le fiance promptly stole the cherry.
While waiting for our food to arrive I took a couple of pictures, captured a few pokemon and chatted away with le fiance. Our food did not take long to arrive and we quickly started on our food.
Not long into the meal however, my nose started to bleed. What a great moment during a date. Le fiance organised me some tissues and ice. I sat for a few minutes with tissue-wrapped ice-cubes held to my nose while stemming the blood flow with another tissue. When I felt it was safe to walk without bleeding all over the place I excused myself and went to the ladies.
Once I had returned to the table a manager checked to see if everything was alright. I assured him there was no problem and continued my meal without further incident. But it was a damper on the date for me. Le fiance laughed it off and joked and teased to lift the mood.
After our food and knowing we faced a long drive home, we decided to walk around the casino. We explored a few of the shops littered around and found our way to an outdoor courtyard. We took a break and enjoyed each other’s company and took a few more photos before heading back inside.
We decided to grab a coffee before heading home and sat people watching. Which led to discussing height tropes in couples and wondering who was dating who in some groups.
Finally, we made our way back to the car where I immediately took off the boots, got comfy and put on my music. The drive home was made up of debating why a romance playlist would be filled with mainly songs about heartbreak and breakups. Then we started discussing what ‘our’ song is. In the entirety of our time together, we have never been able to agree on this point.
We stopped and grabbed milkshakes for ourselves and my parents before getting home and continuing the search for our song. We have not yet reached a conclusion.
Overall it was a really good day and has been an emotional ride the past few months. I am both apprehensive and excited about what the months ahead will bring.
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