My mum was a free spirit, always wanted to travel. My dad, inspired by Count Basie’s ‘April in Paris’, and partly in an attempt to woo her, suggested that they go on a cheap tour of Europe. They hitched everywhere. Their budget was something like 50p a day. When they arrived in Cologne, at a restaurant, my mum perused the menu and chose the cheapest thing. The menu being in German, she had no idea what she would be getting.
The waiter, with a silver domed platter held high, weaved his way through the crowded restaurant. He placed the heavy silver dish on their table and, with a dramatic flourish, lifted off the lid. There, squatting angrily on the platter, an apple between it’s teeth, was an entire pig’s head. This is what my mother had ordered.
She gasped.
“I’m not eating that!” she exclaimed.
The whole restaurant, having followed the progress of the waiter, burst into laughter.
When things had calmed down, my dad whispered:
“Don’t worry. I’ll eat it”
As he commenced tucking in, a smile playing around his lips, my mother breathed out heavily:
“I think you should know that I’m pregnant”
It turns out that I was conceived on a wall in Minori, Italy, earlier in the trip.
My dad, unperturbed, gestured with his fork towards the pig’s head and said:
“I suppose we are going to have to marry you then”.
There's a skewed romanticism in that story 🙂
Nice x
Doesn't get much more romantic than that !
I think mine was as bad … investigating the rings we had to jump through to get me paternity rights for our eldest in the UK I said 'we may as well just get married then' … no regrets since !
Mat
Awww- that's quite sweet really. I doubt many couples have had a pig's head play a key part in their relationship.
awww…keep the stories coming – I LOVE THEM! xxx
Love it – really.
Thank you for sharing and making us all smile with hope.
I loved reading this. It says a lot about you, your love of travel was unavoidable I guess with such beginnings. I now really want to meet your Dad, what a great line! Hope to see you soon.
Thanks for your comments. It was nice to find out that I was conceived in Italy. I'm a quarter italian but I feel those beginnings up the eyetie quotient!
Aaw, nice story!
When my husband proposed, for some reason, I thought he was joking (though why I thought he wasn't serious or that this would be a suitable topic for a joke, I do not know) and said "But you don't mean it do you?".
Only when he looked appropriately crestfallen did it register that he really wanted to marry me.
At which point I screamed extremely loudly for some time before again noticing the confused expression on his face and realising he didn't yet know whether the scream was a happy or horrified one!
Before saying yes I insisted he ask on bended knee, collapsed in giggles because going down on bended knee when naked isn't very dignified at all, and FINALLY got around to giving him a (positive) response!