Paris

I’m sitting in the airport in Paris – it’s a chaotic environment at the best of times, and today is no exception. There are kids playing soccer behind me at the gate lounge, our plane has been delayed 25 minutes, but I’m sitting here feeling particularly at peace for some reason. I’ve got the theme track to American Beauty playing on my ipod, which kind of takes me away from everything, like I’m an observer to everything happening around me but not actively a part of it. I often get this kind of feeling at the start of a trip when I’m on the plane as it cruises into the night, but today it’s a different thing.

The day has been one of saying goodbye to family, walking around various parts of Paris. Sitting at sidewalk cafes eating lunch or having coffee and watching the people go by. Paris certainly is a great place for people watching. I have been imagining all the different life stories of the people passing right by me, reading their expressions as they go about their day, even in the metro I was imagining the worlds of the people around me and how different they probably are from mine. We wandered through the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysees and examining the Euro10000+ bags I realised there is a whole world of people out there about whom I have no knowledge. There is so much out there in fact that I don’t know, that the amount I do know seems insignificant. But I think that’s what really makes the world an interesting place. It’s a whole lot of fun finding out the little bits at a time that I do. While I may feel a mile away from everyone here right now – I know I’m just the same as everyone here, yet there are small things that make us all very individual. And I like that too.