In No Particular Order

AND FINALLY MY INTERNET WORKS!! Also I finally have my laptop charger back since I accidentally gave R my charger when he went back to ye olde Englande. All is well.

So I'm leaving Paris on Saturday. And then I shall be unemployed. The joys. At least I'll be unemployed in our shiny new house! I went to Southampton on the weekend to sign the lease and pick up the keys which was all much excite. Now I'm counting down the days until R says I'm allowed a cat. He thinks a kitchen table is more important but clearly that's ridiculous.

Anyhoo, I'm sitting in my hovel with a hot water bottle because fuck me it's freezing. Am attempting to finish my puzzle because I am an old lady. Also I need to finish it before I leave and it's driving me mad.

I thought I'd gather together some of my Paris photos over the next post or two because otherwise I may never look at them again and they will be banished to the dusty corner of my hard drive and I will forget I ever lived here.

This is the Eiffel Tower. Obviously. We walked around for ages trying to find it. Eventually we turned around and it was right behind us the whole time. Obviously. 

We finally managed to go up to the top when my Dad came to visit the other week. I'd been before and didn't particularly want to go up again because it's pretty bloody high. But hey ho.

This was the view from my window on the 7th floor before the scaffolding was built and ruined the view and my sleeping pattern. 

This was taken on a rainy Wednesday when I got lost taking the girls to their drawing and music lessons. They were having all the fun and I was panicking. 

The girls and their friend who is clearly the alpha in the pack. Her dad was also rather good looking. R agreed.

My cosy setup back when the hovel was reasonably tidy. The Pringles were a very extravagant purchase.

We accidentally found a park. There were ducks. It was very enjoyable.

Now I've thought of Pringles and am really hungry so going to go on a hunt for food. I need to be well fed before going to get the girls and having to deal with the fact it's raining so we can't go to the park. Which means I may have to entertain them myself. Good lord.

Paris

For some reason my last post didn't post until now. I said at the end of it that I'd just heard about the Paris shootings a few arrondissements away from me. That night turned into my most socially active night having to reassure countless family members and friends that I was safely curled up in bed and unhurt.

The world has turned in solidarity with my city. Monuments are shining red, white and blue and there have been candlelit vigils while the city of light is in mourning.

It's a scary feeling when you learn of terrorist attacks in a city you know and it's even scarier living in that city. I just thank god that R left earlier that day as, had he stayed the night, we probably would have been out for drinks alongside fellow Parisians.

I feel so angry about all of this. Angry that innocent people were killed, angry that imbeciles are blaming refugees, angry that people (myself included, I'll hold my hands up to that) don't think of the daily attacks on innocent people in Syria and the like until it happens closer to home.

I had a request from Facebook to mark myself 'safe' after the Paris Shootings which I did. I hope to never have to do it again but who can tell what this world is coming to.

I ask anyone reading to hold their loved ones particularly close over the next few days - I wish I could right now but I'm on my own until I see R next Saturday. Tell people you love them daily and try to live your life with a bit more happiness and kindness. That's really what the world needs right now doesn't it? And if we can't personally stop wars or killings we can at least do our bit to remind the world that there is kindness around (#PorteOuverte).

Nous sommes tous Paris.

I'm Going To Live With A Boyyyy....

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING AND MY INTERNET KEEPS BREAKING.

So I wanted to leave Paris and miraculously R got a job in the UK and like a dutiful wifey I decided to follow him home. Emphasis on the 'home'. We found a place in Southampton. Not even that. We found a house. WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!

It's a little end of terrace 2 bedroom house with a back garden. And a shed. And we can have a cat. I'll say that again. A cat. All my dreams are coming true!!

This is not my cat. I do not own a cat. Yet.

To top it all off, I'm leaving Paris in 2 weeks time. For good. Which is kind of a shame because living in Paris for a year could've been much lols and something to talk about at future dinner parties. But now I am so glad to be going. R and I hated each other in Paris. We became the worst versions of ourselves, most probably because we had to live in a 12 metre squared room for weeks on end. It was a trying time whenever he was here. But I still love Paris because clearly I am a typical white girl.

I made R hold the hot chocolate every Basic White Girl must buy when in Paris. Also that's the Palace of Versailles in the background because I am a cultured white girl.

And we've completed our bucket list of things to do in Paris. Well nearly. R wanted to go to Disneyland but we couldn't afford it so that'll have to wait. But apart from that, we've done all the touristy stuff and then some (Cat Cafe...) and we even put a lock on the lock bridge today before R left to go home.

Look! I even did actual photo editing so at least one of my photos doesn't look like utter shit!

I'm in a weird mood tonight. There was something small that I saw in the MacDonalds we went to for lunch today that broke my heart and made it ache in empathy. And now I won't see R until next weekend when I travel back to the UK to pick up the keys for the house before finishing my last week in Paris. I'm in a horrible state of limbo as my life here is coming to a definite close and my life with R is taking a new direction. It's not a comfortable feeling. I need hugs and hot chocolate.

Also I'm going to live with a boy. How weird is that?

Just before I posted this I saw in the news about the shootings at Stade de France and in the 11éme which is scarily only 2 districts away from me. Get me out of Paris!

Reasons Why I'm Leaving Paris

1. I still can't work corkscrews.

2. R got a job in Southampton.

Finally my internet works properly!!! I've been using increasingly dodgy internet for the past 3 weeks but Family Parisian have finally got it sorted. So you've all missed out on some major news...

I was 20 a few weeks ago (finally no longer a youth!) and R and I went to a rather lovely hotel in Southampton to spend my birthday. He also had a job interview at the Southampton Docks. But for like, boat things. Not prostitute things. 

Anyway anyway anyway we found out a week ago that he'd gotten the job! Am so ridiculously proud of him and also so relieved because I was beginning to get tired of him always being offshore and not seeing him for weeks.

So why does that mean I'm leaving my coveted Paris? As much as I'd like to prove my mother wring and say it is not in any way me following a man around... It is a little bit that.

It's been a year since I met R and 9 months (ish) since we started dating. And during that entire time everything has been so up and down - leaving uni, the weekly trips between Aberdeen and Glasgow, him graduating and then being without a job, him getting temp jobs and disappearing for days on end, moving to Paris, living in different countries, I could go on. Actually no I couldn't; that's about it.

So yes, I want a little bit of stability in my life with him and I'd like to be settled down for a bit. I've also decided that looking after children is not my calling and would like to actually make a start in career that I actually enjoy. Unfortunately for Me With No Degree, that means starting from the bottom as a Christmas temp in retail until I can work out what my cunning plan will be.

R's going to look at some flats on Wednesday and hopefully sign a lease for one.Without me. I know. I chose them on the website though so hopefully I'll have picked some good ones. Everything's happening so fast! I've told the Family Parisian that I'm leaving and so I might even be back in the UK by the end of the month! TOO MUCH GOING ON!

Although R got me the greatest birthday present ever. I always used to play a Harry Potter computer game about 10 years ago that I was obsessed with. I never finished it because we upgraded our computer and I don't understand technology so that was that. R managed to find me a copy that will play on my current laptop and it is all the greatness in the world. Did anyone ever play this too?

Holy shit I have wasted so many hours on this.

So yes! That's the exciting news! I'm leaving Paris! And I'm a bit scared and so dizzy with excitement. ALSO WE MIGHT GET A CAT IN THE NEW PLACE AND THAT WOULD MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER, FLUFFIER PLACE.

Going to have to go calm down and defeat some Fire Crabs now in order to learn the Rictusempra spell and find me some silver Wizard Cards... K bye.