My two goals were achieved: I packed everything in my Diesel bag, and I wrote about 2,000 words.

Last Tuesday I went off to London with my One Bag, admired all the funky envelope skins at the AA review, and the next morning took the train to the heart of Provence. Fab’s villa was like a sanitarium of sorts. I slept and ate at regular hours, basked in the sun, and did a bit of work, but little more. There were a few recreational trips to local markets and an evening at Aix-en-Provence. Aix is a beautiful old city made even more attractive by the competent jazz street musicians and the mediterranean belles that frequent its narrow cobblestone streets. I was back in London on Sunday, and after an underwhelming visit to the Niemeyer pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery I took the train back to Bath.

The cultural content of the entire trip can be summarised as a sandwich of rustic Provencial filling between two slices of London architectural design. France has tons to offer in terms of design and urban culture of course, but it all tends to happen in Paris. I was not able to absorb much on the trip between Gare du Nord (Eurostar) and Gare de Lyon (TGV), apart from grabbing a copy of WAD before boarding the train to London Waterloo.

Among the lessons learned: a single heavy shoulder bag does not a comfortable journey make; TFT screens are unreadable in bright sunlight; smelly cheese tastes good; I enjoy grilled fish.

Apparently, Real Life is “the most accessible and most widely accepted massively multiplayer online role-playing game to date.”