Tris,
and how we met
Tris is my ex-girlfriend; on February 28 1999 we were married.
Tris and I met at Jakarta's Sentul race course (for motor racing), the first and so far only time either of us had attended any motor sport (driving in Jakarta not-withstanding). My cousin Richard Unwin was working throughout Asia on Formula Asia teams. I hadn't seen him for more than two years. Soon after I arrived in Jakarta for my consulting assignment with Philips, he called to tell me he was in town. He arranged for me to get a pit-lane pass. I was keen to see him, so on the Sunday of the three-day meet, I arranged a hire-car to take me to Sentul, which is well outside the city limits, and cost me so much money I nearly didn't go.
Tris was friends of someone who knew one of the drivers affiliated with Richard's team. Tris went with her good friends Fitri and Ade. And hence we met. We had a few social engagements with this group, and it went from there. It wasn't love at first site -- Tris was so attractive I couldn't help noticing her, but I said to Fitri that I thought her friend was a "princess". Tris discovered I said this, and thought it was a compliment, as only a princess could!
After the group dwindled to Tris, Fitri, Richard and I, Tris and I started spending more time with each other. We had a bajai race one night, Tris and I versus Richard and Fitri. I think it was then, as Tris and I roared side by side with Richard and Fitri through the Blok M traffic, that we started thinking about each other in a different light. We started seeing each other some more, and before we knew it, I was in love and Tris was trying hard to work out what to do about me. She didn't come up with anything very clever though, so after I quit my job in Sydney and arranged a job in Jakarta, we had enough time to work everything out and we were married about two and a half year's after our Sentul meeting.
