Although I had already landed back home in the UK, and I hate flying, I decided to fly back immediately to my friends’ home “just to see the view again”. They were astonished – and not too happy – to find me in their living room staring out at the sea through their French window.

I tried to make my apologies but got distracted by a deformed pigeon that was being brutish to another animal. As I looked closer, wondering if I should intervene, the animal being attacked opened its wings. It was a massive butterfly revealing an intricate pattern on its wings that I confidently identified as ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg‘.