A Leeds woman has told the heart warming story of how she set up a popular Twitter account dedicated to Leeds - not realising it would be how she met her future husband.
Kirsty Magallon, 39, was the first person to set up the Twitter account People of Leeds (PoL), which is taken over by a different person every week to tell the world about Leeds and their life there. Since kicking off in 2012, the account has gathered 18,000 followers and seen hundreds of people from the city run it for the week.
After Kirsty set the account up, she celebrated its year anniversary by being the person of the week again, and taking followers behind the scenes at Leeds landmarks like Hyde Park Picture House, City Varieties and more. As part of her week in charge, she asked fans how the account had changed their view of the city - and received, among others, a response from David.
David Magallon, who lived in Canada, tweeted Kirsty all the way back then: "Before I started following other rotation curation projects Leeds was just some OTHER city in England. Now it's a destination."
In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Kirsty recounted how she was overjoyed that her efforts to promote Leeds as a tourist destination were working and jokingly responded "aww that's awesome to hear! Come visit! I'll take you on a coffee crawl!"
And the two ended up getting talking.
In the thread, Kirsty said: "Then a few months later he dropped a bombshell. He was coming to the UK for a holiday. AND HE WAS ONLY PLANNING ON VISITING LONDON.
"This would not stand. It was exactly the sort of nonsense I'd set up PoL for. London is rubbish compared to Leeds."
Kirsty cajoled David to get the train up to Leeds but couldn't budge him. "So I begrudgingly said I'd take the train down to grab lunch, thinking I'd meet this random-who'd-become-a-friend, then maybe go see the dinosaurs in the natural history museum," she added.
When he told her the dates he was coming, she told him it was a pity he'd miss Leeds Beer Festival. And that only a few days before she had a spare ticket for Elton John as her partner wasn't a fan.
Kirsty said: "Readers, he changed his flight. Suddenly I had a twitter random coming to live in my house and I had a week to convince him that Leeds was the greatest city in the world.
"I took him to Bradford (we went to see Jurassic Park at the IMAX. But also, if you want to show off Leeds, dunking on Bradford is second only to dunking on Wakefield).
"I took him to Whitelocks and North bar. I organised a PoL meetup to introduce him to all these people he'd been chatting to. I showed him the Barrel Man. And we went to see Elton John (I didn't tell him we were front row until we got there! Boom! Look at awesome Leeds!)"
On their last night together, they went to the beer festival, and Kirsty sent David back to London on the Megabus with the opinion that Leeds was a good city.
Months later, Kirsty was desperately in need of a holiday after separating from her husband, and remembered she had a favour to cash in on in Canada.
"I'd been pretty locked down in my old relationship, so this was an opportunity to launch my new life, risks and all. I wanted to travel, to adventure, to experience life..." she said.
"It was supposed to be a launching off point. Instead, I came back with a boyfriend. That random guy I met through PoL turned out to be fun and smart and when I needed kindness the most, the most supportive friend I could've ever asked for. Of course I fell in love with him."
Kirsty and David, also now 39, ended up going back and forth between Leeds and Vancouver for a couple of years. Eventually, in 2015, they had to make a decision about where to live, and with a heavy heart for Kirsty, they decided on Canada.
They've been there ever since, and are now very happily married. Kirsty is currently going through the citizenship process in Canada, but says her heart will always be in Leeds.
If you'd like to get involved with People of Leeds and run the account for a week, email peopleofleeds@gmail.com for an information pack.
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