WEBVTT 00:00:00.769 --> 00:00:07.209 Madame est servie! Pressure's off, Paris. There has 00:00:07.209 --> 00:00:12.050 never been any. Pressure's off. To be there with 00:00:12.050 --> 00:00:16.230 you fully or to be here in London mostly -- I travel 00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:20.829 around a lot anyway. Pressure's off because I can 00:00:20.829 --> 00:00:23.589 do whatever I want -- always have been able to -- 00:00:23.589 --> 00:00:26.989 anyway, not because I always have the resources 00:00:26.989 --> 00:00:30.679 before I make a decision, but because I am brave 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:34.719 enough to take the risks every single time, and 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.719 I will only be brave enough when it feels right 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:42.039 to me -- yup: I'm an emotional being, intensely 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.960 so. I've been trying to be reasonable looking 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.020 for ways to make my time with you sustainable. 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:53.219 Why does it have to be sustainable? One of the 00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:55.359 answers is probably because changes are scary 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:59.380 (even scarier than Barbès metro station at late 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:02.920 hours), and one tends to want to stay where one 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.280 has made oneself comfortable, as it usually takes 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.739 a lot already to finally feel comfortable somewhere 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.060 (even if that somewhere is not Barbès metro 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:18.239 station). Am I even comfortable already? I'm fine. 00:01:18.859 --> 00:01:21.519 I feel fine not knowing what the final result 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:24.739 will be, and what is the final result anyway? 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.180 There will always be changes (as the Northern 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:32.439 line commuters would say), that much I can predict, 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:35.319 as there have been a lot of changes in my life 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:39.219 even just in the recent year. And changes are 00:01:39.219 --> 00:01:43.340 always scary, even if they usually lead to better 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:46.560 things, as they have been in my case (unlike 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.620 in the Northern line case). There were probably 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:53.120 a couple of occasions where I looked back and 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:59.459 thought: "if only I did that instead of what I did..." But those 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:02.799 days are long gone now, I don't have time for 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.500 regrets: today is exciting, with its changes and 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:10.860 challenges, with going through them as my reward. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:17.360 Today, it doesn't feel right, yet, to decide to 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:21.800 be there with you fully. My life has been bigger 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.180 than you, with all this running around and being 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:28.039 pulled in all sorts of directions, even before 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:32.080 I added you back in the equation. I used to be 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.280 anxious to death waiting for something to happen 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.020 when I was much younger, in the town where I was 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:42.340 born, and since I left there, I have been moving 00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:46.979 around constantly. Things have been happening, 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:53.599 to me and for me. I used to dream of simply having 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:56.659 a home with a dining table where everyone would 00:02:56.659 --> 00:02:59.900 gather and share their love over meals. But my 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:03.120 dining table has been in different houses, different 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.340 restaurants in different parts of the world for 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:08.900 many years now, and it's time to recognise its 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:13.360 powers: it is flexible and adaptable, and it 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:17.780 is primed for serving wonderful food. Sometimes 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:21.430 I feel that you would be too small to contain 00:03:21.430 --> 00:03:25.349 my restless mind, Paris, with your walkable size, 00:03:25.689 --> 00:03:28.650 famous landmarks and so many people I know who 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:32.129 know each other. Yet I know the world might be 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:35.150 too big for my fragile heart, which never bends. 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:40.550 Sometimes I suffer random homesickness for the 00:03:40.550 --> 00:03:44.590 sheer fact that I don't know where home is (In 00:03:44.590 --> 00:03:47.360 this sense, I am already living a more bohemian 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.500 life than Parisian artists -- some of them anyway, 00:03:50.699 --> 00:03:53.939 we don't want a manifestation. Just kidding, 00:03:54.139 --> 00:03:58.039 artists don't protest anymore). The kids are big 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:01.060 now and they're used to witnessing all the changes 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:03.919 happening in my life over the years and with 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.400 all these changes they have come to realise that 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.379 although we are in three different places most 00:04:09.379 --> 00:04:12.319 of the time, although the rest of the world has 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.840 misunderstood us (but mostly me), it has been 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.139 love that binds us together and brings us closer 00:04:18.139 --> 00:04:22.939 and closer. It is time for me to accept that 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:26.920 love is my dining table, and it is flexible and 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.680 adaptable, and it is primed for serving wonderful 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:35.639 food. And my dining table is sturdy and extendable, 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:40.839 Paris; it can contain you, doesn't matter where 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:46.850 life takes me. Come what may, madame est servie! 00:04:49.009 --> 00:04:53.689 Londres, le 25 mai 2025. Je t 'embrasse.