Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2007-04-08 08:20:03 - Graham Ellis
Last night, we watched "The Holiday" - a romantic comedy with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and a couple of blokes that I didn't find quite so fetching. The premise was that both the young ladies (one in the USA and the other in the UK) had come to the end of relationships and were unhappy and distinctly OFF men in the run up to a holiday season. Both looked to getting away for a fortnight and they came across each other's places (San Franciso and the countryside near Godalming) on a holiday home swap web site. Can you believe - off they went and swapped homes. Travelling on their own to an unknown land for a vacation, to get away?
The Cameron Diaz woman ends up in a remote cottage, freezing, minimal wood fires and is nearly turning straight around when a guy called Graham turns up the worse for wear from alcohol on her doorstep; explains he's the other woman's brother and persuades her to let him stay the night. Romance follows, but it seems that Graham has others in his life which in time turn our to be two young daughters he's been left with. I guess the rest of that half of the plot is pretty predictable.
And I haven't told you the half of the improbabilities! Pretty far fetched from real life? Curiously not ... Lisa and I found ourselves spotting a number of parallels ... not everything you'll appreciate as I've never owned a house in Godalming ... but we do rather feel that the main parts of our story have been nicked.
In the film, the story ended with both couples (because the girl who went to LA found romance too) back at Graham's place, with his daughters too, for the happiest new year of their lives. Questions had been left hanging about "damned geography" - how things might work out for the future. But there, I can add a happy conclusion for you. Lisa and I have known each other for over 10 years now. Been married for 8. Stronger than even; I love her, couldn't do without her, and can't imagine life without. We're enjoying working on "and they lived happily every after".
In the film, the story ended with both couples (because the girl who went to LA found romance too) back at Graham's place, with his daughters too, for the happiest new year of their lives. Questions had been left hanging about "damned geography" - how things might work out for the future. But there, I can add a happy conclusion for you. Lisa and I have known each other for over 10 years now. Been married for 8. Stronger than even; I love her, couldn't do without her, and can't imagine life without. We're enjoying working on "and they lived happily every after".