the end of the blog - well this one anyway

Hello all you interepid desktop travellers

I am now in my new office in Doha, Qatar! I got here yesterday evening and am in the office on Saturday....again.

Having just spent 2 weeks in old blighty I seem to have de-acclimatised and am sweating like a geordie doing a maths test yet again.

A quick whistle stop tour of my two weeks in the UK:

Friday 29th July: go home and asked Laura to marry me and she said yes

Monday 1st August: met up with Mum, Dad and Emma (sis) and her chap to celebrate the parents 35th Wedding Anniversary - stayed at Kings College overnight - very nice too

Tuesday 2nd August: chill out day with Emma

Wednesday 3rd August: took Ellie and Harry to Gym and played Tennis, Cricket, Basketball, Wall Climbing and swimming. Then back home to do a bit of work on holiday! Also dropped Laura off at work and picked her up and the evening we went for a meal with Laura's Mum and Dad, sister and kids.

Thursday 4th: dropped Laura off, picked kids up, gym for the same again and then home to do more work and then picked Laura up and then chilled out because Laura had come down with a dreadful cold and stomach bug etc...

Friday 5th: Luckily Laura had day off so we both took Ellie and Harry to the gym and then in the evening I went over to see Nathan and Lorraine and Ella bella

Saturday 6th: Picked up ring from Cellini's on Rose Crescent which had to be resized to fit Laura inordinately small fingers!!!!! AND CELLINI ARE CRAP - THE DAMADGED THE RING - DO NOT GO THERE AND TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW HOW CRAP THEY ARE PLEASE......then onto London for a meal in Covent Garden followed by a viewing of the Lion King which is increadible....go and see it...trust me you will love it

Sunday 7th: visited Dave, Julie and Daisy on their wedding anniversary and then home to chill

Monday 8th: full on house clearance and garage sort and stack. Laura came home to find the house quite allot emptier - the whole process of moving out here became a little more real for her at this point. Then over to Andy and Anna's for a wee drink.

Tuesday 9th: Another full on day of sorting - mostly paperwork etc but also built a base for a shed and some other bits and bobs to set the house up properly. Most importantly we got registered for marriage in the morning....the future Mrs Quig

Wednesday 10th: Laura had a day off and we met with a wedding co-ordinator at the chosen venue and paid our depositry....errr... deposit. Shed delivered and erected and began the final sort, stack and pack.

Thursday 11th: Laura worked the morning and I cracked on with packing which ended up taking all day. Left home at 7pm and got to parents for 8ish......a nice meal and a drink and off to bed for 10.30 ish and then....

Friday 12th: up at 5am - leaving at 6am...farewell to Laura.....off to Gatwick with Dad. Check in, 56kg excess baggage.......996 uk sterling later.....luckily covered by my company......through passport control.....rammed with people as it is the day after the Heathrow strikes.....baording time quoated as 9.45am.....10am and no gate number.....start getting concerned and then......gate 19......boarded.......4 seats to me......sat on runway waiting for slot for 45mins......6hrs10mins flight and then 2 hours waiting for baggage with 1,000,000 indians who has just arrived from Bombay!!!!!! arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Nick (the boss) then turned up an hour late at the airport and finally got to his villa at about 10pm exhausted.

So thats that......now you must visit:

http://dunclauraqatar.blogspot.com

Now....many of you are not commenting so you need not register....those who would like to continue posting comments please email me at duncan.quig@dtz.com and I will send you an invite

See ya over on the other blog then

the biggest update of all time

so I gets home after an epic ordeal of a day as outlined in the last blog....but I made it. At 7.30am (after a 1hours and 30mins waiting for luggage to arrive) I was with Laura. At 9.30am we were home and after a kip it was 5pm with the click of a finger.

Up we got and I had a cheese sandwich whilst professing to Laura how much I had missed real cheese. Mmmmm I said as I munched on the sandwich. I also studied the green green grass of home and declared what a wonderous sight for tired eyes it was. All of the this was a smokescreen.

At 6pm I suggested we might go for a meal at Pizza Express as we have done many times before. Primarily, Laura thought, this was to have a cheese pizza. I made a fake phone callhaving agreed to try and book for 8pm. Talking to a dial tone I had an imaginary conversatio with Pizza Express ensuring I was speaking sufficiently loud for Laura to hear from the front room. "oh, ok...hold on....Laura, is 7.30pm ok?'; 'yes thats fine came the reply' and the plans were set in motion.

We set off at 7pm and on the way in I suggested that instead of parking at Park Street Multi Storey as normal we should park over the river and walk across one of the green green commons on the way. We parked and made our way over the bridge. Walking along the path I then said, ooooh let me walk on the grass and I might take my shoes off.......the lovely Laura had no idea.

After droping to one knee I read a poem I had prepared. I then produced a ring and asked her to Marry me and the lady she says yes........yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

We had a random person take the above photo 30 seconds after our matrimonial agreement.

I then informed Laura that we were not going to Pizza Express but rather the Ancient Shepherds at Fen Ditton - the venue of our first ever date. We had champagne and ate lovely fair and then to Laura's suprise together with the rest of the pub a stretch turned up outside to take us home.

Congratulations to us.....29th July 2006 is the day folks - venue permitting