Amid the turbulence of last week, a beautiful family friend sent me the most lovely pick-me-up email, reminding me of why the very reason i’m on this journey, offering reassurance that the foreign language through osmosis method will eventually work and that one day, not too far away, I will experience a magnificent ‘light globe’ moment when everything will suddenly illuminate and piece together. She then said,“So do something good for yourself today. Get some hugs. Go to that lovely cake shop, order two, and sit in the sun and eat half of each. Feed the rest to the birds. Buy a whole bunch of flowers for yourself today, not just one. And on the way home, buy yourself some proper shoes!”

So that is what I did. I bought some shiny sunshine yellow shoes, a bunch of bright sunflowers and a coffee brulee Verrine from the best patisserie in Montpellier.

Except I decided that instead of buying two for myself and wasting such deliciousness on ungrateful pigeons, I would buy two boxes of macarons for two very special friends back home, and pass the magic of the moment forward.

I popped them in the post just this afternoon… check your mailbox soon, they could be en route to you!