(listen to the podcast ici & watch the video ici!)
Bonjour Paris,
Suppose I don’t look at you, will I still see you? Pardon my cutting to the chase, my directness, but I’m feeling this sense of urgency as if my timeline was shifting and I’ve very little time for polite opening lines. When I’m alone and I close my eyes the gap separating us physically often disappears and you penetrate my vision like a picture of love, but perhaps that is because I keep looking at you – as a solid option, as a destination, as a mirror. I wonder what would happen to that picture if I stopped looking at you, not that I know how right now. Would I still see you?
Alright, posing these questions has calmed me down, I’m ready for small talk. The first night of the fireworks display at Battersea Park was splendid toward the end, when my boat neighbour finally turned off the mild night club music. We had the best view from the middle of the river Thames below Albert Bridge and my daughter enjoyed every bit of it. I wasn’t aware of the people filling the whole length of the embankment until I heard their glorious cheering after the last set of intense fireworks. That reminded me of…well, I don’t remember anyone cheering for my intensity!
Cold November Saturday night, we decided to dress warmly and check out the streets after the fireworks ended. My beautiful and fragile Albert Bridge, currently undergoing serious work, was gracefully coping with the many people walking all over it so I wasn’t complaining about having to brush shoulders with anyone or about having to walk very slowly to get to the other side. I love the bridge and I love people. My daughter wasn’t a complainer either. In fact, I’ve probably learned from her to see the good in people and things as she often points out to me loudly what she likes about a person or an object we bump into when we’re together. We stopped outside the Prince Albert, where people were singing and shouting with beer in hand, stood there for a few minutes enjoying ourselves being in the crowd before heading to a local Co-op to get a couple of drinks.
On our walk back to the barge, my daughter felt like spending some time on one of the massive shiny concrete benches in front of Foster + Partners office so we enjoyed our aloe vera and coconut drinks there. I was wearing a thick shearling-lined aviator leather jacket so I thought I’d lie down and look at the cloudy sky. I was wearing old Ugg boots I inherited from my daughter and I stomped my feet, one after the other, against the shiny surface to adjust my lying down position. She told me the noises sounded like fireworks so I stomped a few more times mimicking intense fireworks while she recorded it to share with her silly mother’s biggest fans that were her friends.
I am always completely relaxed when I’m around her and I feel so seen. We play things by ear and always enjoy the little things like eating, drawing, talking, watching a film, cuddling – anything at all, even doing nothing. She teaches me not to demand so much from myself, that it’s okay to not know what I’m doing at any given time. When I’m with her and I close my eyes, I see a picture of love as something even more familiar than you: I see myself in my elements, wherever I end up, whichever direction I’m looking.
À demain !
londres, le 8 novembre 2026
je t’embrasse !
d.o.
