Destiny

Who would have known that getting married could be so unromantic? Between discussions about prenups and the signature of documents "in case of divorce" that describe me as a "spinster" (nice), we are very far from the Hollywood chick flicks of a Prince Charming down on his knee, brandishing a million dollar ring that leads to a fairy tale wedding...

So now the secret is out about us getting married in France next June, you might as well know about our administrative wedding in Hong Kong, or as I like to call it, "the visa wedding".

I am trying to forget that this part is actually the real wedding, concentrating instead on the preparations for next year, but the feeling of getting off on the wrong foot is still quite present, the feeling of a love story that is actually a law story...

And I suppose even though I am counting August as the official proposal, Krusty first "proposed" when I hated my job that I wanted to leave but couldn't because of my visa, and he said that "every cloud has a silver lining, or a gold one, or a platinum one, up to you". Following this cute proof of love, we have been living a battle between Krustian reason (based very much in legal protection) and Gitanesque emotiveness (based in romance novels (well, Jane Austen) and romantic movies).

Anyway, we're getting married as soon as possible, if possible, and although we didn't want anyone to know, now everyone does.

It's not that bad though. Thirty years ago, my mother was marrying an Englishman in Northern Ireland to be able to stay with him while he had been sent there by the army. Now I will marry a Northern Irishman in Hong Kong to be able to stay with him while he has been sent here by... well... the "cult" of finance.

And... if you can believe it, our lawyers are called Alfred and Elsie - those are also the names of my grandparents! It's destiny!

All this to say that when I was ten years old, I imagined my Prince Charming riding me into the sunset on his horse towards a life with no problems, but I didn't realise that instead he would ride me into the pollution of Hong Kong towards a storm of Excel spreadsheets and legal documents. They don't show that in the movies!

Does that mean that when my first child is born I won't be fresh, beautiful and relaxed, and that my baby won't be clean, pretty and quiet?