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Reliving the Past Differently
Today I’m in Valbonne again. This is the third time I’m back this year, and I’m really loving it. It feels like the first time I can actually enjoy what the village has to offer. When I lived here, I was such a different person. I was so scared of everything and everyone… when I…
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From Western Australia to the Var
It’s been one week since I arrived in the southeast of France, and I don’t want to leave. I feel more than ever that this is my home, and I keep the idea of packing up again far from my mind. There are so many things that are the same between Australia and France when…
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Wisdom from the Middle of the Night
I have not been sleeping well lately. It always happens when I come here, to the south east coast of France. I wake up often in the middle of the night. Some nights I don’t sleep at all. The weather has been cool here, but I have not often worn a jacket. I feel warm…
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Some Places Call to Us
Do you think that walls have voices? I think I’ve come to believe this. Certain locations, certain architecture and certain groups of people speak to us in gentle ways. Imagine, if a stone wall from a French medieval village had ears and a mouth… then what variety of things could it tell us? My visit…
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Travelling the Little Way
I wrote this while sitting in the sun in Valbonne, at a café by the square. It was a little warm, but a soft cool breeze was passing by every now and then giving me relief. My feet were wet and my shoes were dirty, but I didn’t let it bother me. The sun dried…
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Listening to the Waves
The last month, I have spent a lot of time away from the sea. From the concrete towers of Taipei to the snowy Swiss hills and grassy fields of the French countryside… every time I looked out into the distance, there was never that familiar flat horizon line to be seen. Coming back to the…
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How France Changed Me
Today, I planned to meet a friend for a casual coffee in Antibes… but that turned into lunch, which turned into a walk along the sea, which turned into a few glasses of wine later into the night. Some of the best moments in life are unexpected ones. We’ve known each other for a couple…
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Living by the Sea
Today was a slow day for me. I feel the tiredness that has been chasing me finally catch up. Travelling by air, travelling by train… adjusting to different weather, food and time zones is all more tiring than I remember. So I gave myself permission to stay at home and move in and out of…
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When Destinations Become Reflections
Today, I was walking around the town of Antibes. I’ve been there many times before, but this time I’m a totally different person and so I see it with a different perspective. Every time before, I’ve seen the beauty of the French Mediterranean style streets. What you’d expect to see when you think of the…
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Home Finds You
Yesterday I was so tired after my long train journey, the only thing I could do was have a bath and go to bed. I left all my suitcases open on the floor, and slept quickly. I didn’t set an alarm and I didn’t put the window shade over the door to the balcony, I…