While it was too short a sejour, I left on Saturday May 21, arriving around 4:30 pm, where I met my wonderful friend Aggie at Stanstead airport, as her flight from Dublin arrived just minutes before. Aggie was one of the first of the 5 of us to begin a journey outside of Windsor, when she took a leap of faith and moved to a small town outside of Dublin Ireland. As I met Aggie outside of the terminal, I was instantly excited and it almost felt as if I was seeing her for the first time in years, when in reality I had visited her in Ireland back in December.
We then boarded a bus into the city where we met our friend Dave, who has been living in London for nearly two years now. Dave, always the adventurous and free-spirited type has lived just about everywhere and anywhere, and is full of countless mysterious experiences! We spent the evening together drinking pints of ale outside a historic pub, overlooking a canal... I would say we enjoyed the pints of ale, but I can't include myself as the taste of the grossly warm ale was somewhere around 3 out of 10! Sorry guys, I tried! We rounded off the night with some live music at of course another pub, where at least Aggie and I enjoyed and remembered the atmosphere and music; while 'others' were in a hazy slumber.
The next morning we set out in search for good coffee and time to catch up as it had nearly been 5 months since we all last saw each other. We followed this with a walk through the markets and then met up with Mike, who like Dave has been living in London for the past 2 years. We strolled together along the market streets, and I was filled with a grateful appreciation for our short reconnection together. Aggie and I then set off to explore the city before meeting up with Mai!
We boarded the Underground and set off for Hyde Park where we met Mai and Rana. Like all of us Mai's journey has led her to Calgary with a wealth of new challenges and opportunities. While Rana did not work at Maryvale with us, her path is just as colourful and exciting and also filled with experiences others only dream of!
The four of us walked through Hyde Park and St. James Park, stopping in Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Covent Gardens, before settling into a quaint pub for fish & chips and wine (and you thought I was going to say beer)! Much needed girl time was had by all, complete with catching up on lost time of course, and lots of laughter and secrets shared!
And so a very short while later, on Monday May 23, before 5am, Aggie and I set off to board the bus back to Stanstead Airport. There I bid adieu to Aggie at her terminal and then tried to get back out to find a hearty breakfast before finding mine.... Great in theory but not so much in practice... Well who would have thought that once you enter a terminal the only way out is by plane!! So with a group of other travellers who missed their flight I was taxied along the RyanAir terminal to the EasyJet terminal by a friendly and accommodating airport worker. There I explained my situation and inquired as to whether I was in the right spot, and was abruptly told that once I made it into a terminal there was no way out!! After checking my flight details I was told I was in the right terminal and given the gate number, which in perfect travelling fashion was later changed.... And so after a restless sleep in the airport and short flight later I was back on French soil, and back to life as a frenchie.
And so...
while it was a short and condensed trip, these moments of friendship
and connection are not marked by time nor space,
but simply by the moments spent together.
Thank you my friends for a wonderful time together!
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