The flight was a little late, but the bad weather meant we had had another couple of days filled with concern and uncertainty, so an extra hour was irrelevant.

 

 

The first thing that many of us do is check the films that will be shown: I flicked through the inflight magazine and found a lookalike of me and Lise before turning to the film listings. Anyone aware of the new procedures on BA transatlantic flights will know that such excitement is ameliorated by the ‘on-demand’ service, offering about forty films to choose from. My appetite was whetted when I saw the listings, particularly one movie I’d been waiting to see for ages following a recommendation from the highly skilled builder of this very site, who knows me better than most people on this earth, and said that 500 Days of Summer could have been written about me.

 

It didn’t disappoint – the central character Tom’s Joy Division t-shirts, hopeful romanticism, love of The Smiths, and basically his whole personality, was reminiscent of me, and the narrative jumped back and forwards as well as any of my stories. But what really stuck was a quote towards the end of the film, something that stuck with me and was to resonate loudly later on during the trip.

 

                        “If Tom had learned anything, it was that you can’t ascribe

                         cosmic significance to an earthly event.

 

                        COINCIDENCE – That’s all anything ever is. Nothing more…

                        Nothing less.

 

Coincidence.

 

                        Tom had finally learned – there are no miracles.

 

                        There’s no such thing as fate.

 

                        Nothing is meant to be…”

 

Now this knocked me a little, as events such as the proposed strike and weather problems plus the fortune teller’s predictions, made me more certain than ever that this was all meant to be, but I watched the heartwarming UP instead of worrying about what I’d just been told by the narrator of an Indie flick.

 

We were on our way.

 

Suddenly, things went wrong upon landing, however. Our bags had not accompanied us on the journey, and so we travelled to the hotel ‘light’ but safe in the knowledge that at least one would be joining us soon enough.

 

Times Square was its usual buzzing self, and aside from the bags balls-up, everything was looking good. At Planet Hollywood we were even sat under Sly and Slimer, having noticed memorabilia from Big and Ferris Bueller (two of my favourite films) and West Side Story and Grease (two of Lisa’s) on the way to the table.

 

 

 

The following day brought with it some amazing experiences – The top of the Rock for the most amazing views, the sun was shining, a bus tour, then a fantastic Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. The biggest coincidence of Christmas Eve was that our tour guide on the Downtown bus, looked a little like me. Albeit a lot cooler, with the necessary knowledge and accompanying Queens accent. Then, one of the old Rockettes was a great lookalike for Lisa’s mum, and, after the show, we had our photograph taken by the spit of Barbra Streisand.

 

After a wonderful meal at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, we returned to the hotel, still no luggage… but It’s a Wonderful Life! was on TV.

 

 

No luggage meant no presents on Christmas morning, so, wearing pretty much the same clothes as the previous two days, we set off for the Empire State Building nice and early.

 

Now when I said that things were meant to be, every hope was pinned on us getting to the top of the Empire State. If you’ve seen An Affair to Remember you’ll get what that means, if not, go and see it. Sleepless in Seattle is, in my opinion, a little less relevant, however, both could be said to have relied heavily on chance, destiny, fate… and both inspired what happened next.

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 11:56 am and is filed under I A Y T E W B OK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.