Virgin broke ground on a new hotel in New York on Friday and, as a courtesy to future generations, they buried a time capsule. That’s the capsule on the far left, and Richard Branson kissing the shoe of Melissa Hill from the U.S. Department of Commerce on the right. Why is Sir Richard Branson kissing a Commerce Department official’s shoe? That part remains unclear.
Did the shoe at least make its way into the capsule? It seems like it did not. As eHotelier explains, the capsule contains mostly trinkets from Virgin retail outlets:
Some of the capsules contents include: Virgin Cola can, Wham Glam Thank You Ma’am CD from the Times Square Virgin Megastore, Virgin Atlantic on-board salt and pepper shakers, Virgin Hotels key cards, Virgin America headphones and JFK boarding pass, photos and more.
Oh.
Well, I guess unlike the recently opened JFK Peace Capsule in Michigan, at least this Virgin one looks like it was sealed tight. So that… future generations can bask in the wonder that is a boarding pass? Or something.
I still have no idea what’s going on with the shoe kissing part of the time capsule ceremony.
As a time capsule aficionado, I try to stay current on the latest time capsule ceremony traditions. If shoe kissing is one of them, I really need to know. If it was just a billionaire being unprofessional, I guess you can let me know that too.
(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision for Virgin Hotels/AP Images)