Today was awesome because it was meant to be.
It was Coleby's last day in Victoria. We didn't have any set plans, but knew that all we had to do was venture out into the city with open eyes and minds. Walking south on Pandora, as we approached another young guy walking the other way he started to slow down, leaned into our field of view and said, "Heyyyyyyy."
Coleby recognized him right away and introduced me to Dave, whom he had just met on the train a few days ago. Dave didn't have any plans either. I told him we were going to swing by my favourite record shop, in an alley, and probably a used book store too. He said that sounded perfect and asked if he could join, so we were now three. I led the boys into Canada's oldest Chinatown and down Fan Tan Alley. Inside The Turntable we each selected a different row to start with and started flipping through the sleeves.
That shop is full of treasures and I fantasized about one day owning the records I was examining. Original pressings of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Imagine, Harvest, Something Else by The Kinks... rare, Japanese imports, EPs I never knew existed. On our way out Dave asked if we had happened to see anything by The Zombies. "No," I said, "but ask the guy behind the counter. He knows everything and he knows where everything in his shop is."
Dave waited for the shop owner to finish up another conversation, Coleby and I waited outside. When he re-joined us in the alley, he was thrilled! "Get this! I asked him if he had Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies... I've been looking for it for so long, it's impossible to find an original pressing, and this guy said he just got one YESTERDAY! and his buddy is just cleaning it up and he'll have it in the shop by tomorrow. He said it's in the best condition he's ever seen and he won't sell it until I come back and take a look. He said he's probably looking for about a hundred for it, but in Toronto you'd be looking at two-fifty!"
Coleby met Dave on the train. Dave ran in to us on the street in Victoria. He was heading in the opposite direction we were but decided to join us. We took him to a shop he never would have known about, hidden away in an alley, and within a day the store owner had come into possession of the record Dave had long been searching for. So many little moments lined up perfectly, it felt like more than random coincidence.
Dave spent most of the day with me and Coleby, and between the three of us there were many more serendipitous discoveries.
When things really feel like they were meant to happen, it's such an awesome feeling.
(What made your day awesome? Tell me in the comments section below. I'd love to hear about it!)
No comments:
Post a Comment