My phone has Wi(fe)-Fi(nd)
I have told this story before, but it centres on a mobile phone so I think it's relevant.

Back in 2005 I went to Tokyo for a three-month project. The day after I arrived, London was hit by the July 07 attacks. The heady combination of jet-lag, jubilation for the London Olympic bid victory, a stinking first night hangover and mind-gurgling anxiety for my London-based friends resulted in hard drinking that lasted until my brother came out to visit me a fornight later. His arrival finally settled my frayed nerves, enabling normal service again, to the relief of my boss in Japan.

Midweek, my errant brother hooked up with a random girl, which was the last I saw of him that night. I went to work in the morning and left a key with the reception desk instead. Upon returning home, I found him with his travel buddy and his new lady friend, plus another girl, all drinking tea in my living room. We chatted for a while and I took the number of the other girl, thinking it might be 'useful' to have a friendly (and attractive) local among my contacts. Hers was the first entry in my brand new Japanese phone but I promptly forgot about it shortly after the girls left.

I waved off my brother to the airport on Friday and went out after work for our first proper team outing since I'd arrived. It was a fantastic, messy night, ending at around 7 on Saturday morning when I zig-zagged into my front room and collapsed face-down on the sofa. Around midday I awoke to the burning summer heat, crawled into the kitchen to get water for my parched mouth and slithered into my bed. I woke up again at 4:30 in the afternoon with my head spinning. The hangover made the room feel like it was shaking.

It was fucking shaking, a lot. A very strong earthquake (magnitude 7.0) was rocking the foundations of my rickety apartment complex. Panicking, I bimbled in a squiggly, drunken line towards the door and held on for dear life, vowing also to never drink again. The earthquake eventually subsided so I instinctively reached for my phone, but the only number in the phonebook belonged to the girl I'd met the other day. I dialled anyway. She happened to be watching a movie at my local cinema, so I threw on some clothes and went to meet her for coffee, which then turned into dinner and a night out, finally ending when I walked her to the station, where I received a sweet goodnight kiss.

We started dating soon afterwards. I returned to the UK, she came with me and stayed for a couple of years and we got married. We're now living in Tokyo together and it can all be traced back to that fateful day when I unboxed my new phone to add her details. If the phone had arrived a day later, I never would have seen her again. One of the many odd things that binds us together is the unfortunate fact that both our mothers have already passed away. Compounding the coincidences that made us meet, it was only later in our relationship that we found out that her mother died on my mother's birthday. We then realised that my mother died on my wife's birthday. I think the universe is trying to tell us something.

I just wish it wasn't always in the form of natural disasters and macabre date alignments.

/Obligatory 'marriage wrecked my life' joke goes here (except it didn't... not yet anyway)
( chart cat has an itch, Mon 3 Aug 2009, 9:32, 6 replies)

Heartwarming...
Nice to see a Grade A perv like yourself can bag a good woman. Click for the excellent writing and getting shitfaced at the first sign of stress - works a charm everytime that does.
( SpankyHanky, Mon 3 Aug 2009, 11:07, closed)

great story
just what i need on a monday. cheers guy!
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Mon 3 Aug 2009, 15:42, closed)

Maybe the universe is just really bad at choosing birthday presents?
(Pope Jamiroquai III, Mon 3 Aug 2009, 22:51, closed)

He he :-)
Weird though, isn't it?
( chart cat has an itch, Tue 4 Aug 2009, 2:09, closed)

Excellent!
Nick up to Animate in Ikebukuro and grab me a box of those Hagaren cookie-danglies, would you? Mwah!
( Troo Troo Barney McGrew, Mon 3 Aug 2009, 23:16, closed)

Awwww...
A tale to warm even my cold dead heart, sir.

*wipes 'dust' from eyes*

*clicks*
( TheMagicDwarf is back like ballroom dancing, Wed 5 Aug 2009, 2:45, closed)