Iwas having dinner in Saint Germain when I heard the first sirens.

I’d found myself in Paris to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

A rare weekend away from London without a camera and my work laptop.

Right as one of the biggest stories of the year was about to unfold.

By the time I hustled back to my hotel room, word was spreading with alerts pinging on people’s phones — shots had been fired in Central Paris, armed police were responding.

It was the beginning of an extraordinarily tragic night — a series of events that wouldn’t end for days before perpetrators were cornered in Saint Denis during a shootout with police, months before the sole surviving terrorist was arrested in Belgium, and years with the ongoing effects of that terrible reign of terror across Europe.

Paris had already be

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