#XrisLogbook 181 - Boxes, Bridges, Backstages 🇫🇷
👍🏻 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. 🌍
👎🏻 I can now confirm that international relocation is not one task. It is a full-time project disguised as a life decision. Schools, banking, permits, housing, insurance, documents, movers, storage, flights, addresses, subscriptions… everything is connected, and somehow everything requires a different password I created in 2010 when I arrived in London. AI may soon transform the future of work, but for now the future of relocation still seems to involve PDFs, scanned documents, and at least one form asking for information already provided in the previous form. Progress is real. It is just occasionally hidden behind admin. 😄
✍🏻 One of the highlights of the week was a private visit to the Opéra Garnier. Our guide showed us details most visitors never notice: Charles Garnier discreetly hid his own name in a ceiling sculpture because the building wasn’t originally meant to bear his name; salamanders carved into the grand staircase symbolised protection against the fires that regularly destroyed theatres; a private entrance was specially designed for Emperor Napoleon III to protect him from assassination attempts, yet he never used it after the fall of the Second Empire, leaving part of it less ornamented than originally planned; and beneath the Opera lies a vast water reservoir where Paris firefighters still train, complete with fish that have become unexpected residents. It reminded me that remarkable places are often defined not by what everyone sees, but by the thoughtful details almost nobody notices. They are also shaped by history itself: plans change, people disappear, but great architecture adapts and endures. Perhaps the same is true of great companies, great leaders… and great lives. 🏛️
🙏🏻 Special thanks this week to Salomé Dubbé , Jean Michel Karam , Isabelle Loc , Isabelle LEUNG TACK , Olivier Mermuys , Stephanie Bisson , Franck Bertoneche , Aurelien Chouvet
📚 Each week is a step in a journey I’ve captured for good 👉🏼 https://lnkd.in/dn4TvrMJ
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