Extreme blizzard conditions, mind-numbingly long delays, and a complete disaster of epic proportions. Let's be clear that I am not using hyperbole here to describe my last 24 hours of travel.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
We've all heard the line, but so clear was it's application in my life during this last day that I feel lower than even the lowest of mice right now. The goal was simple, fly to London for a photo shoot with a sexy male "celebrity." But that's where it all fell apart.
When the "celebrity" for which you are flying halfway across the world to shoot backs out on you and you're sitting on a plane that's about to cross an ocean but that can't back away from the terminal gate because the tug that's pushing it can't get traction on the icy surface of the tarmac... you start to wonder. You wonder as the tug pushes and pushes and the giant plane rocks back and forth and doesn't budge. You wonder and imagine the little engine that could, spinning its wheels on the slick glassy ground.
I think I can, I think I can. You tell yourself.
But then you remember that you don't have a model to shoot. You remember that you have an extremely angry client that blames you for the debacle. You remember that you're about to spend the next seven hours completely cut off from the world with no way to solve any of your problems and that even when you land it will be so early that nothing can be done for hours after.
And so, you put your phone into airplane mode, turn on some Stephen Sondheim and make the most of the stale overcooked meal that spent too long in the warming drawer during the hours of tugging and pushing and scraping and sand-dumping that had to take place before the plane could finally leave the gate (not to mention the additional tug with snow-chained wheels that was brought over built for a plane twice the size).
So, here I am. In merry ol' London. I made it! And that's the happiest part of the story. I've got a basket full of questions and no answers. But I'm here and I think I can still salvage something from this trip, or at least...
I think I can, I think I can.
