I’d been tired all day and cancelled seeing a theatre show (that I
wanted to see) and, to make matters worse, as I went back to the couch, I got a text from a friend saying
that she was parking and would be at the cinema soon. Shit. I thought it was
next week and couldn’t have made it if I’d tried. Today I was a failure as an
arts writer and a friend. Great.
There wasn’t anything on TV, so I decided to go for a walk
around the block as I hadn’t left the house since Thursday.
But outside was still and perfect and
warm, so I jumped in the car and headed to Elwood beach to watch the sun set. I
had an audio book on my ancient iPod (hence no phone) and thought I’d be 20 minutes.
A ten-minute walk along the beach from the car park is the
old concrete Elwood jetty. It’s wide and deco and only about 30 metres long.
There were the usual people fishing and taking sunset photos and an odd-looking
wooden sign in the middle. The only thing discernable on it was “ARRY”.
Of course I went to look and, yep, a marriage proposal was
waiting to happen. The area was coned off and a dude was keeping an eye on
things. I asked when it was going to happen. 9.30 and he said to stay around
and watch.
I did. I watched the sun set, listened to Craig Ferguson’s
autobiography and waited with about 20 other passers by to watch a stranger propose.
As 9.30 got closer, a camera guy set up and the fishers and
photographers were cleared from the jetty. It was dark enough to not be obvious and the crowd were
small enough to not look suspicious.
At 9.40, it nearly went wrong when a grumpy old man wanted
to walk on the jetty like he always did, but he was shooed away just as another
couple walked by.
There were a few couples wandering the beach path, so no one
watching was sure if this twosome were it. They were. He casually walked her
onto the jetty and firework fountains went off on either side (which no one
watching was expecting) and coloured letters lit up one by one to spell “LILLY
WILL U MARRY ME” as he got down on one knee.
There were fireworks in the air and about 20 strangers
cheered as she seemed to say yes and their hidden family ran down to join them.
The only thing ruining it for the spectators was a pair of
charming blokes who laughed that, “She probably said yes because no one else
would want her”. Apparently it’s fucking hilarious that a middle aged,
not-magazine-perfect couple are happy and in love. I think it’s safe to assume
that no one has ever done anything near that beautiful and loving for them.
