Thanking you kindly

...for all your delightful emails and the congratulations therein. We will reply to them all anon. Not anonymously, I mean, but anon as in "soon." (Gosh, that was weak. Try harder, Sam).

I suppose my first duty is to inform all those of you who are so concerned with Elizabeth´s state of mind, well-being etc., that she appears to be completely fine and to have made the decision rationally.

To fill you in on the details - we were staying on Ilha Grande a beautiful island of Atlantic rainforest and glorious beaches. We spent most of our time on Praia Lopez Mendes, the finest of these beaches and it was there, on Tuesday, that I asked her the big question. Being an impoverished and lowly traveller, there was no shiny trinket of the usual kind to offer her so I ingeniously fashioned a ring from the top of a pineapple (photos being uploaded as I write). That seemed to do the trick for Elizabeth, in spite of the fact that I was quite unacceptably and revoltingly bearded at the time. She had to bin it as it got a bit old which is rather a shame as I believe she would have cut quite a dash in society with it. Suppose she´ll have to settle for something more conventional. We then sat on the beach a bit more and then celebrated with a few caipirinhas, some seafood and a bottle of ridiculously disgusting sparkling wine that we managed to find. And there you have it. I am all a-quiver and she is beaming tranquilly.

Furthermore, I am pleased to tell you that she commenced her Woman Who Is To Be Joined To Me In Holy Wedlock (much more elegant than "fiancee," I think you´ll agree) duties last night by trimming my moustache. We are now back in Rio and are awaiting the arrival of Tony who will no doubt make us go dancing and suchlike. Although in true Murombe style he is currently stuck in Oporto airport, his flight being delayed for 6 hours.

In other news; I lost another hat, Caipirinhas are delicious but strong, there are many kites in Brazil, you can get pork scratchings as an accompaniment to your meal (like spuds, for example), people drink beer for breakfast...oh that´ll do.

Thanks again and lots of love to you all,
Sam XXX (and Elizabeth XXX).