👍🏻 Cocoon Bay is getting very close. Site visits have become almost daily, suppliers are being finalised, the website is taking shape and we’re starting to recruit the local team who will actually run the place. There’s an interesting moment in every project when you stop thinking only about building it and start thinking about making it work. I think we’re there. 🏗️

👍🏻 Mauritius started feeling a little less like a holiday and a little more like home. Lucy started her new school, which meant uniforms, school supplies and all those little rituals that suddenly make a move very real. We also caught up with friends who moved here for a year with their three children. Different stories, same experiment: figuring out how to build a life somewhere new.

👍🏻 We finally landed in Mauritius. Yet strangely, it still feels a little like a holiday. We’ve been here so many times that my brain hasn’t quite registered that this time, we’re staying. Lucy seems to have adapted faster than us: she found a friend, discovered padel, the beach… and apparently parents have already become optional. At least I’m no longer hearing “Why did we come here?” Our temporary penthouse on the beach, three minutes from Cocoon Bay, is making the transition pretty easy. 😁

👍🏻 Some places don't just welcome you, they make you feel at home. We have been coming to this old farmhouse in Morzine for years. It's no longer just a hotel; it feels like home. In a season where we've left our previous house behind and haven't yet moved into the next one, that feeling matters more than ever. Sometimes, what we need most isn't a destination. It's a place that gives us the space to slow down, think clearly and regain perspective. 🏔️

👍🏻 Some friendships don’t need much to stay alive. We first met in a sandbox at nursery school around fifty years ago. Our lives have taken us in very different directions, yet every time we meet, it feels as if no time has passed. Just days after showing my daughter that very same school, I found myself sharing lunch with the friend I met there. Life has a beautiful way of coming full circle in the most unexpected ways. ☕️

👍 A few days in Paris meant catching up with friends before our move to Mauritius. Almost every dinner eventually led to the same question: “Why leave London?” What struck me was that everyone heard a different story. Some saw a business decision. Others saw a lifestyle decision. We simply saw our next chapter. 🌍

👍🏻 Becoming a British citizen, watching Lucy graduate from primary school and finalizing for our move to Mauritius all happened within a few days. Different milestones, yet they all carried the same message: every meaningful beginning starts with closing a chapter. 🌱

👍🏻 This week felt strangely symbolic. Sophie and I spent a few days in Paris, catching up with close friends before leaving Europe next month. At the same time, Lucy was away on her final Year 6 trip to the Isle of Wight with her classmates. While we were celebrating friendships built over many years, she was creating memories with friends she may remember for the rest of her life. Different moments, different generations… yet both quietly marking the end of an important chapter. Growing up isn’t only about children. Adults go through their own transitions too. We simply call them “life decisions.” ❤️

👍🏻 I received the confirmation that my British citizenship has been officially approved, and, because life clearly has a sense of humour, my citizenship ceremony will take place on the 14th of July… Bastille Day! I’m not entirely sure whether the British are welcoming me or the French are trying to reclaim me! After sixteen years in the UK, it feels like life is reminding me that gratitude doesn’t recognise borders. Britain gave us opportunities, lifelong friendships, our daughter Lucy, and countless lessons that will travel with us far beyond its shores. As we prepare to leave, this feels like the most unexpected farewell gift the UK could have given us. Sometimes the most meaningful milestones arrive just as one chapter closes, quietly reminding us that gratitude is the best way to leave a place before embracing the next one. 🇫🇷🇬🇧

👍🏻 The move started to feel very real. Not in the romantic “new life under the sun” kind of way… more in the “why do we own so many cables?” kind of way. Packing a home is a strange exercise. You don’t just sort objects. You sort chapters. Some things go into boxes, some go to charity, some go straight to the bin, and a few make you pause longer than expected. Every move is a quiet negotiation between who you were, who you are, and who you are trying to become next. Mauritius may be the destination, but the transition has already started in every drawer we open. 🌍

👍🏻 London reminded me that a city is never just a place. It is a collection of memories, people, routines, shortcuts, cafés, dinners, school runs, meetings, late flights, unexpected conversations, and friendships that slowly become part of your identity. As we prepare to leave after so many years, I realise that the hardest part is not packing boxes or closing accounts. It is understanding that a chapter can be successful precisely because it is difficult to leave. London gave us energy, ambition, resilience, and a second family. Now Mauritius is calling, but London will always remain one of the cities that shaped us. ❤️