Our Story
We first met on the dance floor of the local Ceroc club in Dunedin in September 2012. We both had our own interpretation of the dance style and music which was fun to discuss. Our first official date was on the 3rd November at one of the well frequented University coffee stops, always the best cup! Katy first met all of Paul's family at his father's birthday evening meal not long after, followed with Christmas at their new house. Little did we know it was the first and last Christmas with us all together as Paul's father passed away in 2013.
Katy moved in to share rented accommodation at Paul's student house, thus meeting his brother Matt as well as others, and finding out just how good at cooking both brothers are! Christmas 2013 at Paul's Mum's place was welcomed with Paul's Turducken masterpiece, assembled from scratch and never to have been repeated, yet. The shared house was a grand old (by New Zealand standards) building from the early 1900's with no insulation but a beautiful garden full of roses, lilacs, and rhododendrons. Katy ended up taking over most of the maintenance of the garden right through until August 2019 and the move back to the UK. It was very handy for both Katy's work (at the bottom of the hill) and Paul's study, and, after completing his PhD in 2017, lecturing at the University. At the end of 2016 we moved to another warm little home five minutes drive and twenty minutes walk from St Clair beach, the outside heated swimming pool, and one of our favourite foody stops — an italian restaurant with excellent coffee, cake, and pizza.
There was a Crane clan trip to Melbourne in 2014, where was a lot of fun filled foodie focussed frivolities, naturally aided and abetted by the nectar of the gods! On one occasion the four of us went to a restaurant recommended by one of Paul's friends, Katy was the only one to choose a meal that didn't blow your head off with spice! Later that same year Paul was finally introduced, in person, to the Truscott tribe (and the menagerie) during a trip home to the UK for Katy's parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary and Christmas in 2014. It was definitely a case of the country mouse had come to town for Paul. He'd just about become used to the vast numbers of people and the weight of history everywhere before we returned to the "normality" of NZ.
We danced our way through the years with weekly classes and regular monthly socials with our dancing whānau (family and friends). Often travelling to competitions and workshops in Christchurch, Wanaka, and Auckland. There were a lot of road trips, usually with a celebratory brunch the morning after and before the return journey. Paul even became a teacher in Ceroc and taught for about 18 months before he moved to Oxford to take up his current work position.
