Philip had finished the year at work in Tokyo with goals achieved and he returned home to see his family in Australia. The year had been long, stressful, and eventful and it was now time to leave the winter of the Northern Hemisphere and relax in the sun at his sister Lil’s and brother in law Paul’s home at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.
Gladys too had finished a long year her 4th year flying with Emirates Airline. The exotic life flying around the world staying in the best hotels and shopping regularly in Paris, Milan and New York was still wonderful, but living in the over-hyped, ready made city of Dubai, UAE had taken its toll. Her thoughts had moved on to a new start, a new city, a new endeavor, finishing that degree or studying Mandarin in Shanghai were all possibilities. For now for this Xmas 2006 she was in Brisbane on a stop over to Auckland and then back to Brisbane and back home to Dubai in bring in 2007. Life, however, is full of surprises!
The only reason Philip had gone to the city centre on December 28th was that he had forgotten to pick up photos the day before. For once his absent mindedness proved to be a winner. As he took a break from watching the Cricket on TV, the Boxing day test match between Australia and England and wandered around the post Xmas streets of Brisbane. He visited RM Williams where he randomly met a cousin, the clerk identifying the shared family name from his Amex Card, a book store to buy the latest copy of Fortune Magazine and a shirt at Country Road. His feet were weary and he wanted to eat ice-cream and watch the last session of the cricket so he headed toward the Taxi Stand. The Brisbane sun was warm and soothing as he sauntereddown the mall. Enough was enough Brisbane only has so many stores!.
As his mind wandered to thoughts of cricket and eating ice-cream he was brought back to reality when he saw, walking toward him, a tall, elegant, graceful woman; a mirage in the Brisbane sun burnt culture of shorts and flip flops. He smiled as she walked past. She turned right and headed down the escalator beneath the David Jones shopping centre. Instinctively Philip followed. Shyness is not one of Philip’s handicaps. He was drawn to this vision of beauty, could he, should he, would he approach her, he must.
Just as quickly as he made the decision to engage the exotic mirage, Philip began to doubt himself and fear raised its ugly head. This is silly he thought, “I should just go home to ice-cream and watch the cricket, she is in a shoe store for God sake, “Who says hi in a shoe store?” She then walked from the store and into the Coles Supermarket. Philip followed…..let’s be honest he stalked! He thought he would casually walk past and surely she would notice a handsome middle aged man sucking his stomach in and they would make eye contact, the angels would sing and trumpets would play! He walked by, he went unnoticed. He was now in the adjacent shopping aisle feeling rather foolish peering through cans of Campbell’s soup. Carpe diem and ichi go ichi e…he must a least give it a go. To live and be shot down in flames by the exotic beauty….well…at least he wouldn’t have regrets. He had to have an Aussie go!
The only reason why Gladys responded to Philip’s hello was that she thought he was the supermarket manager, a helpful Aussie shop assistant she thought. Philip made small talk and asked her if she was from Brisbane. Clearly she was not but he wanted to appear local. He asked her for a cup of coffee, she said, “no”. Being a persistent shop keeper and salesman of note he asked if she would prefer tea. She gave in thinking, “I have nothing else better to do”
Philip & Gladys had that coffee and talked and laughed for two hours and having been talking and laughing ever since. Two years later on the anniversary of the meeting at the Supermarket Philip knelt on one knee and asked Gladys to be his wife and being the good salesman he is had the ring on the finger before she could respond. Assume the sale, she then said yes!
We hope that you can celebrate with us on October 3rd, 2009
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