Ha!
The past two days have been full of excitement. After deciding the French will never fix the locked door and my shin makes me look like I went ten rounds in a cage fight, I let Bug convince me to join him in London. He’s here for business, and the plan was originally, he’d come to Paris when finished. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. My five day solo writing retreat was foiled by a group of French people who can’t decide who should pay for the locksmith.
I really wish that was a joke, but I’m being serious. No one wants the responsibility of paying, so the lock remains broken. Instead, we had this improvement: an IKEA stool to help us over the door. AWESOME.
With just an hour to pack and get to the station, I threw all my important things in a small carry-on and headed over to Gare Nord. The train ride was pleasant, fast, and uneventful.
Bug met me at the station with flowers (he’s a sap like that) and we headed over to Brick Lane for dinner. Brick Lane has the best Indian food ever. We like a place called Preen – if you go, get the butter chicken, it’s amazing!
So, yeah, that was my uneventful day. Then came today. I am jinxed.
First, I had a 10:30 am appointment which took 40 minutes to get to because of traffic. My driver kept asking me if he could join me (I was headed to Bliss for some spa treatments) and went into great detail about the difference between French and English lady “landscaping” or “hygiene” as he put it. My response: “Well, thankfully, I’m American.” Then I thanked my lady bits for not being of interest to him – lol.
After my appointment Bug joined me for lunch. We just ate at the hotel restaurant and it was delicious. I had a baked goat cheese and mushroom sandwich with zucchini and pepper. So. MUCH. YUM.
Completely stuffed, Bug went back to work and I sat down to write. Only I feel asleep while editing…ooops.
But have no fear! That’s about when the fire alarm sounded. I jumped up, grabbed my laptop, my purse and my jewelry and paused to read the fire exit info. Apparently, I’m the only person who does that, and I ended up leading most of my floor not toward the elevators but to the stairwells in the opposite direction. (SEE BUG, THIS IS WHEN MY ANAL OBSESSION WITH HOTEL SAFETY COMES IN USEFUL).
I never did find out what happened, but I got to stand outside with my floormates for thirty minutes. Now I’m hanging in the lobby, having tea, and editing.
Not a bad day. Not at all.