Friday, June 22, 2012

Si tu vas pas à la Fête de la Musique...

...la Fête de la Musique vient à toi! (If you don't go to the Fête de la Musique, the Fête de la Musique comes to you.) So someone said to me over drinks on Wednesday, the day before the Fête de la Musique, aka World Music Day, and it turned out to be true! He meant that you can't avoid hearing the music whether you go out or not, so you might as well make the most of it, but in my case, the Fête de la Musique came to me in the form of my friend Laura, who rang up to say she was coming past my house and did I want to come into town with her?

I had brownies in the oven, since Liz had given me a whole bunch of stickers which enabled me to get a fancy new mixer (for 25€, saving 38€!) to replace my crappy stick blender which is feeble and overheats all the time, along with some pretty broad hints about me using the new mixer to make brownies (if you can call saying "you know what you can make with the new mixer? Brownies!" about 20 times a 'hint'). So anyway, Laura and I had a glass of wine while we waited for the brownies to finish baking, then another glass of wine while we ate a brownie, and then headed into the centre-ville to see what the haps was.

As well as organised events and bars having their own bands or DJs, amateur musicians are encouraged to play on the streets during the Fête de la Musique, often only a few metres away from each other, so you can be listening to jazz one minute and dubstep the next (not that I actually know what dubstep is, but I'm assuming you can, seems to be what all the kids are listening to these days). The old town was really crowded, but most people didn't seem that drunk, and there was a great open, festive atmosphere, with people seeming more willing to smile and chat than is usually the case on a Saturday night or whatever. We just wandered through the town, from the Place du Monstre through the streets around Place Plum' (didn't go into the Place though, too crowded) and then over to Rue Colbert where we watched a group playing on the street for a while until it got to about 12.15 and the bands had to pack up, so we headed into the Pale for a nightcap. 

I'm glad I went out, it was fun! Of course, last year the Fête de la Musique was the last time I went out with my old flatmate, since the next day I came home to the agent in our house informing me that she hadn't been paying the rent for a year... Time flies, hard to believe it's been a year since the start of all that drama, I suppose especially since it just dragged on and on with tax issues and so forth. I'd like to say I'm in a happier place now, but since then the only big thing that's changed is I no longer have a job, so yeah. Anyway...

Of course, the reason the Fête de la Musique was yesterday was because it was the longest day and the official start of summer! And yesterday, apart from the bit where it bucketed down for 10 minutes or so while I was walking to Carrefour, was actually quite nice weather, luckily! The sky wasn't even completely dark (that dark blue colour rather than black) when we were heading in to town around 11 pm, and this morning I was (reluctantly) woken up by sunshine streaming in through my shutters. So far, we've had rain, rain and more rain, but fingers crossed now it's officially summer!


I make notoriously crappy videos and this is no exception really, but it gives a little snapshot of being on the street during the Fête

One of the street bands playing near the Pale

Me and Laura enjoying the music

10 comments:

  1. Its a contest who has the best fake smile! and the winner is.......

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you don't have anything nice to say...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shortest day here so make the most of it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I lost track of what I was reading shortly after I saw the fateful word, "brownies" and started reminiscing about how delicious yours are. I can easily understand why Liz would have been dropping hints about them. Brownies paired with wine must have been heaven!

    "Place du Monstre"!!! I know exactly where that is thanks to your "Super Best Tour Ever of Tours".

    Lots of music during the Fete de la Musique in Paris but we had a fairly early night. We ended up listening to the music from our bedroom window as we tried to fall asleep. As your friend said, there's no escaping it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll have to bring you some more some time, I wouldn't want you falling into too many brownie-induced reveries! Much easier with the new mixer :)

      Delete
  6. I forgot about all of that flatmate drama! It has been year, wow! What's happening with that? She owes you cash still, right? I can't believe she got away with it for so long.


    ...and your video is great! The music is absolutely ridiculous and I love the guy smoking and dancing! LOL! I just watched it three times. Thanks for entertaining me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, someone said something nice about a video I made :D

      No, luckily once I managed to shift the tax bill back to her that was fine. I actually still technically "owe" rent to the agent because they haven't cashed my cheque from a year ago *eye roll*. Counting down the days until the cheque expires, wish me luck!

      Delete
    2. Good luck! What the eff? Why haven't they cashed it yet?! When does it expire?

      Delete
    3. July 2nd! I don't know!?! What's wrong with them, they waited a year when she wasn't paying the rent, now this? Not that I'll be complaining if it means an extra 650€ for me, but seriously!!

      Delete

Feed the Comment Monster! Rawrrrr

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.