10.

This is a huge amount of faith to put in Fate. Things coming together, just at the right time. Resourcefulness, belief, strength of will - Good words for 2010. A confident way to mold the clay which this future will be made from. I won't say I'm not nervous, I am. Not so much of What We Are Doing, but more...that we can get home, that we can eat, that Life is gentle with us. Such a way to start a year, a lifelong dream come true. Can it be that things go right? Can it really be?

On the steps of Sacre Couer I sit and smoke and the whole of Paris stretches out beneath me. If I am to find a sign then this place is surely the delivery point. It's been snowing all morning. Not a heavy snow, more a breath, a light stir of butterflies which dance on the winds and land wet on my jacket. But as I sit down on the stairs of the ancient basillica, the clouds open and the sun shines through and all the rooftops of Paris turn from grey to gold. I light another smoke. What else to do in this city? I take it in, and take it in, the smoke, the vista, the sun, the dream. I leave my camera in my pocket and I just Am. Right here. This moment which will never be again. I smile at the busker who sets up two steps in front of me, and he leans into his microphone and asks the crowd, is everyone okay? And they cry, YES!

And he closes his eyes, and he plays

John Lennon, Imagine.

And the accent is atrocious, but the playing is strong, but I mean, who cares, the sun, the song, the crowd sings along, the cigarette burns, and my soul soars, and what else is there to think? Sign or not, this is a moment. And I would be fool not to drown in it.

You may say, I'm a dreamer....but I'm not the only one...

How did we engineer this? This extra time, this One Forever Dream?

I don't know. But there's a sign outside of Disney World, huge, across the entrance.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

Maybe that's all it takes.

So dream with me.