Je suis allè à Londres

(Tom &) I turn 25 on Friday!

This weekend I went back to London (& Cambridge). It's not what you'd expect for my first weekend in Paris, but I'd made a prior commitment to go back not only to play hockey (as team captain) but also to see my family for Birthday celebrations.

I left Paris on Friday evening, walking through the city laden with Parisian patisseries, cheese and presents, in the pouring rain. There was a pianist playing the grand piano at the departure gate at Gare du Nord, and with brilliant symmetry at the arrival gate at St Pancras there were some drunken British blokes playing on the 'Aunt Joanna'. The Paris performance was certainly more 'élégante'.

On Saturday morning, Charles was at the house, and we caught up and compared notes on eachother's first weeks over brunch with Kirsty in Stoke Newington. I then went to play hockey at the Olympic Park, a big match against our club rivals. It felt like I'd done a lot of living since I'd last seen the hockey girls/ladies/women but it had only been the previous weekend. We played really well as a team and came out victorious, and one goal for me too!

I then headed home early evening for Birthday celebrations. We'd only celebrated UK Christmas two weeks previous so I couldn't quite believe it was time to celebrate again!  We had a delicious feast for Tom, Mum and I's Birthdays, followed by the most amazing cakes that AJ had made. We drank Amarula cocktails, played cards against humanity, and opened so many presents. I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful family, and a sneaky sister (from-another-mister) who made a surprise appearance. 

On Sunday I met Oli for a goodbye brunch at Kings Cross; as usual we put the world to rights and of course discussed the great potential of he and Evelin's trip. I won't see him again for quite some time, we've had an amazing three years living together, so I hugged him every success in 'living the travelling dream' (very jealous) and then jumped on the Eurostar back to Paris.

PARIS PAIRS

Time travels differently in Paris
Time is 'worth less' in London
There's never enough time in London and Paris