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How time flies, Paris!

Five nights have passed and I am leaving your physical existence tonight. Not for long, I hope. Just enough distance to keep things fresh; I do not need a reminder of how much love I have for you. Is anyone in London waiting for me? Well, I do not read minds and I do not mind. In any case, I have myself to rely on for joy and I am free to share it with anyone lucky enough to come my way.

Time flies and non-existent boxes have been ticked, Paris. I’ve been to two vernissages here, one of which I helped organise and co-hosted with my art curator friend Sandy on behalf of Seni7Plus at Le Maung Coffee and Atelier 48. It was a festive evening full of Dandy Diwangkara’s stunning paper art works in frames – almost half of which were sold before 9pm; refreshing and heartwarming drinks; delicious finger food – mostly Indonesian; beautiful people – from different parts of the world; and laughter and joy and joy and joy. On top of that, Sandy and I managed to shower and looked pretty enough before carrying stuff to the venues with help from our friend and my book cover designer Fatkur, who arrived already looking pretty – now that is what I call a successful opening night!

The next day was for my quiet self – yes, yes, I have this side – to have a quiet day and evening, ideally by myself, while my daughter was doing a road trip with my friend Julien and her new teenage friend Nikita. But hey, my jazz and cabaret singer best friend Katie exists! And so, we agreed to have unexciting coffee about fifteen minutes’ walk away from both our places. She arrived, still with her crutch following her recent knee surgery, as I was about to write a couple of lines I had in my head – blame her fast recovery for lack of poetry in this world today, I guess.

That unexciting coffee turned into wine – red for safety because I’m incredibly fussy with white – as my friend patiently dealt with my low energy. Yeah, imagine that! I guess it was more like a post-climax energy, where my sense of humour, and my demanding nature, is still intact but I feel less inclined to entertain. Her decade-long love for me was sufficient to entertain the both of us and so the two glasses of Côte du Rhône turned into a walk and dinner somewhere nicer neither of us had tried before. I went to bed that night feeling loved, having said good night to my happy daughter and friends at Nation home.

Yesterday was for quality time with my daughter so we started our day with a couple of hours at the clinic trying to get urgent help for my infected earlobes – sexy! Oh well, she got to watch her mother calmly and gracefully dealt with a French doctor’s initial aggression, in French. Who said tiredness doesn’t deliver excellent result? Because we parted best friends. Well, almost; I wanted to keep our relationship professional, please, docteur !

Seventeen different pills were acquired, in line with French national policy when dealing with any health problem, and so off we went to grab our favourite drinks and say hello to our friends at Le Maung after dropping off a key at Atelier 48 across the street. We walked in the beautiful afternoon sun in Le Marais after and did a bit of shopping before walking along the River Seine to bond over the evening light and find a place to eat French traditional food. Le Petit Plateur by the river delivered the flavour, atmosphere and Parisian view. Feeling satisfied, we did a little more walking and a little more shopping, now for our favourite French delicacies, before heading home and had a joyful night.

I’m leaving you again tonight, Paris. Thank you for the dynamic rest you provide for this restless mind and opened heart. I think London is waiting for me, with its theatres and River Thames, with love in its air again because I’ll be around again with the usual Parisian sass and finesse. Maybe I’ll give Vienna a visit too, simply because someone beautiful mentioned it on a beautiful morning recently.

paris, le 5 avril 2026

je t’embrasse !

d.o.