Scotts Hill, Tennessee.

Excuse the long silence - I've been away in England and France, and now I'm staying with Pam's sister Leah and her family in Tennessee.

We stayed in the south of France for a couple of weeks, and then spent a day in Paris on the way back. It was unseasonably cold with frequent heavy showers. Then the rain stopped, the sun came out, a rainbow appeared above the rooftops, and we went up the Eiffel Tower.

There was a sign at the bottom saying level 3, the top of the tower, was closed. But we still thought it was worthwhile going to level 2, and as it happened level 3 had reopened when we arrived.

At the top, a thousand feet above the rainswept streets, I said to Pam: 'I'm glad we made it all the way up here. It wouldn't have been the same if I'd asked you to marry me halfway up the Eiffel Tower."

'What?' she said.

Then I asked her to marry me, and after about a nanosecond's hesitation she flung her arms round me and said yes. So what had been rather a miserable day suddenly took a distinct turn for the better.

This is a photograph taken immediately after I popped the question.