Cee Fardoe

I’ll be honest, my darlings – I keep saying the words, “I’ll be honest…” and following them up with very thinly veiled but unfailingly polite condemnation of my colleagues’ incompetence. If I had known what I was getting myself into, when I accepted the job that I took three weeks before we left for Bordeaux, I might have reconsidered… …might have

Uniqlo coat (similar) Le Chateau sweater (c/o) (similar) Mavi jeans (c/o) Mango heels Sezane tote (similar) & Other Stories sunglasses Gisel B. necklace (c/o) Keltie Leanne Designs ring (c/o) (similar) & Other Stories earrings Location: Place de la Bourse – Bordeaux, France Tell me truthfully; how many of you consider yourselves to be a morning person? I ask because for years, I thought I was neither a morning person or a night owl

My characters inhabit this city, and I’ve walked these streets in my imagination over and over again. If you’ve read my books, you might know them. Bordeaux is the familiar unknown for me, a place I’ve never been but have studied for so long, where the line between what I’ve read in books and know to be real blurs with what I’ve imagined so near accurately, leaving me with the impression that I’ve been here before, despite knowing, rationally, that I have not. While we wander the streets, seeking the perfect old doors and vintage signs, I have the distinct impression of walking in the footsteps of someone whose life I know is little more than a figment of my imagination but that, in many ways, feels as real as my own.

I’ve heard that worrying is like paying interest on a loan you haven’t yet taken out, but in some scenarios, I can’t help it. This is predictable, but somehow we never learn – we charge, heedless, into the darkness of the morning, suitcase clattering along the heaving sidewalk behind us, and immediately miss our first turn on the way to the train station. Eventually, we find what looks like the car park attached to the train station. With the wrong turn and the lack of obvious station entrance, we really didn’t arrive with much time to spare.