Jean-François has taught me many things, the one which is most useful is "see ya later".
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
At the time of writing this (18:50 GMT, 27th December 2012) Gil is currently on a plane to Madrid, which puts her on to a plane to Chile later tonight. As of some point tomorrow lunchtime (GMT) Gil will have landed in Santiago for the start of her adventures.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
On Sunday morning, about 09:15 GMT, Gil drove off my from place; the end of The Last Super (part 2), having had the chance to have one more evening of chatting. Fate, in her twisted way, had found us a bit more time.
Not a great morning, but it's easier the second time.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
A few weeks short of 6 (yes, six) years without eating chocolate it made one hell of a return to my diet last Wednesday, when Gil and I had a Gu chocolate soufflé as the desert to our Last Supper (or more accurately, The Last Supper (part 1)). We also had Lindt wasabi chocolate, which is amazing (far far better than chilli chocolate).
The return of chocolate to my diet is something which was very planned - I want the ability to eat/taste/sample anything when travelling, so bring it back now to share it with Gil during The Last Supper and then to have things like Christmas Pudding with the family. I'm glad I shared it with her.
(side note: for those who've just given me that look - don't worry, I'm still on-the-wagon. As I've said before - keep me honest.)
Getting out of bed and going to work on Thursday morning sucked more than I thought possible.
Now I'm not ahead of myself.
My friend Jean-François has taught me many things, the one which is most useful is "see ya later". There isn't a goodbye, there is just a "see ya later" - given how small the planet is even a departure with a unplanned return is a "see ya later". See, for example, meeting Jean-François going into the Okavango Delta as I'm leaving it - the planet is tiny.
As for Gil... Well, we'll be meeting up for a week of adventures in Lima in September 2013 - I'll have just landed in South America after 4 months of travel through Central Asia and she'll be in her final days in South America before she heads back to the UK for a bit. For those who've read the early posts - we've had to work hard to be able to do this.
Gil is one my closest friends, it'll be strange to not have her around. If nothing else, who is going to sleep on my sofa?
See ya later, Gil.
