“I love that Sam has always been open to change,” says Eilís. Eilís is a youth worker, while Sam is a paramedic, and the couple have four children together. They moved in together in Kilkenny in 2012 and married the following year. “We’d known each other less than three months but it felt right,” he says. In October 2011, Sam’s mum died unexpectedly and Eilís offered to fly back to England with him to see his family. They met again over the next few weekends and soon became an official couple. “I had a beautiful sheepskin rug and her dog pooed all over it,” says Sam. “The dog had slid off the rock into the river and when I went to get him, it was too steep, and I fell in, too! It was absolutely baltic and Sam had to rescue both of us.” After changing into some dry camping gear, they went back to Sam’s house so she could shower. He soon discovered Eilís and her dog in the water below. “I went to the toilet and when I came back, she’d disappeared,” he says. He led her down to a large slab of rock overlooking a picturesque river. “We had separate rooms in a hostel overnight.” She arrived to discover that Sam had planned a picnic lunch. “It was a three-hour trip from Kilkenny and I took my dog,” she says.
Two weeks later, they arranged a date: a hike in the Mourne mountains in Northern Ireland, near where Sam was living. He told me he wanted to settle down in a wooden house and have kids. “I couldn’t believe how straightforward he was, so open and honest. “We started sending each other long emails every day,” says Eilís. He sent a text message the next day and asked for her email address.
I remember thinking she had a nice big smile. I didn’t even know where he was from – it could have been the other side of the world,” she says. “I wrote my name and number on a piece of paper as there were no electronics permitted. On the last day, she decided to take the plunge. Other than exchanging pleasantries, they barely spoke during the festival. I had offered to wash up in the cafe,” says Eilís.Īlthough she thought Sam was “lovely”, she was too shy to talk to him. “As soon as you arrive, you put your name on the volunteer list. Although he was officially a member of festival staff, everyone else pitched in to help, too.
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“I was friends with the woman who ran the cafe and she offered me a free ticket to work there,” he says.