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
