Scottish Sarah meets her Prince Charming
Love could be in the air for two people who exchanged casual smiles while passing each other on a beach. Selina Powell reports.
Picton’s most eligible bachelor has met his mystery admirer – and whisked her away from curious crowds.
William Chalmers caught the eye of Sarah, who hails from Scotland, on the Picton foreshore on Friday as he was walking a labradoodle.
She was so captivated by the shirtless man with a curly-haired dog that she drew a picture of him on a sign saying Is This You? and posted it to a wall.
‘‘You have stars tattooed on your torso and your dog is curly, bouncy and blonde. You ran past me and smiled . . . Would you like to go for a drink/coffee/ walk???’’ the sign said.
The requested time was between 1pm and 1.30pm Tuesday.
And Chalmers showed up. A crowd of about 30 people cheered as he made his way down the steps of the Picton War Memorial walking his dog.
‘‘Top off, top off Will,’’ a bystander heckled.
After a brief meeting the pair walked up the stairs together to the applause of the crowd before Chalmers whisked Sarah away to a secret location.
Speaking before Chalmers arrived, Sarah was shy, only giving her first name and nationality.
She was slightly embarrassed by the situation.
‘‘I hate cameras and being the centre of attention.’’ She said she made the sign on a whim. ‘‘People don’t act on things often, so it was just me acting on something.’’
Chalmers, who works at Billy’s Burgers and Bird in Picton, said he first saw the mystery woman while he was trying to teach a dog he walks, TJ, to swim. ‘‘I just smiled at her as I walked past.’’ He didn’t think much of the smile at the time but was woken by a friend on
Friends had to give Picton chef William Chalmers a pep talk before he could pluck up the courage to meet the woman who wrote a sign, asking to meet with him. Sunday morning, who told him someone had put up a sign about him.
‘‘I didn’t believe him until we drove down at 2am in the morning’’
Chalmers took down the sign.
Scottish lass Sarah meets bachelor William Chalmers in Picton on Tuesday. It is now at his house. He was surprised at all the attention a passing smile had brought him.
‘‘She was a cute girl and I smiled at her.
‘‘It’s a New Zealand thing as well. Someone smiles at you and you smile back.’’
He said he was a ‘‘bit nervous’’ about the meeting but friends had given him a pep talk.
‘‘They said if it goes really well then it
Eligible bachelor:
could be the love story of New Zealand and if goes really bad all the girls will feel sorry for you.’’
Chalmers’ boss, Jaiyden Poutu, said customers had mentioned how polite he was. ‘‘He’s good with all the customers. ‘‘He’s probably the most bubbly person you’d ever meet.’’
The icecream parlour and takeaway restaurant had fielded calls from overseas media as well as New Zealand radio stations and newspapers. ‘‘It just went ‘kaboom’,’’ Poutu said ‘‘He wasn’t expecting this at all.’’ Poutu said Chalmers might bring his date back to Billy’s Burgers and Bird for an icecream after meeting her.
‘‘It will be interesting to see what happens.’’