.... and they say romance is dead!
ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE, WE PARKED IN YELLOW, CAN I MARRY YOU?
WHEN it comes to proposals, many people will go out of their way to find the perfect place to ask their partner to marry them.
But some Geordies have found it fit to pop the question in the yellow car park of the Metrocentre in Gateshead.
The unlikely spot was thrown into the spotlight during the Steve and Karen Breakfast Show on Metro Radio.
The presenters asked listeners to ring in and talk about their unromantic proposals.
To their surprise, eight people said they had been proposed to in the shopping centre’s yellow car park.
The first to call was Melanie Gaff, of South Shields, whose husband Brian asked her to marry him there in 2009.
The 37-year-old said: “We had gone to the Metrocentre and went for something to eat at Burger King. We then went to look at rings and he asked me which one I liked. I half-jokingly told him and he got it. “I thought he would keep it and propose somewhere romantic later. But he didn’t, he just did it in the car. He was in the passenger seat. “I was surprised but I said yes.” The couple tied the knot in 2013. Melanie added: “I think it’s quite funny now. Whenever we go to the Metrocentre, we always try to park in the same space or in the same area and make a kind of joke out of it.” Joanne Hare, 40, from Haltwhistle, also rang Steve and Karen and told them how her partner David popped the question in the same location in 1998. She said: “We went and chose the ring together in the Metrocentre and he proposed when we got to the car. “I thought I was the only one but I couldn’t believe it when I heard someone else talk about the yellow car park as well.” Steve Furnell, host of the Metro Radio breakfast show, told of his astonishment at the flurry of calls pointing to that particular car park. He added: “Who would have
thought? When we posed this question, not for one minute did we expect a car park to feature. The calls were brilliant and just kept on coming.
“There must be some kind of romance in the air at the yellow quadrant that is causing this. We’re expecting plenty more proposals down there now we’ve highlighted how popular it is.”
Metrocentre bosses were also surprised to learn of the site’s popularity.
A spokesman said: “It turns out that love really is in the air at intu Metrocentre. We’re wondering if it’s the colour yellow that is attracting so many proposals.
“Traditionally yellow represents cheerfulness and joy, creating warm and happy feelings, so maybe the Yellow mall is working some magic that is being reflected into the car park.
“We’ve had a few proposals on the malls, and have even helped to facilitate a few of them, but a proposal in the car parks is certainly something new to us.”