18 June 2007
Quote:
"The whole weed mentality is very defensive, very much like, 'F*** you --
you don't know me.' Whereas the drinking mentality is very 'Woe is me. Oh,
I love you. I'm gonna lie in the road for you. I don't even care if you
never even look my way, I'm always gonna love you.'"
--Amy Winehouse
Lyon was my last DJ gig for a quite a while, I'm afraid, because summer flights are just so expensive, and the dates are mainly mid-week or private. Anyway, did I mention I hate DJ gigs?
The trip to the airport on Saturday was rather complicated, because trains were cancelled or delayed due to the floodings. Luckily, I had booked a connection with a 1-hour "buffer" zone, so I still made it in time even though I had to change trains 5 times instead of 2 and was late. I missed all of my original connections, but because the connecting trains were all delayed as well, I still caught them, like by magic!
It wasn't raining hard in London, but there were 2 very strong thunderstorms which slightly delayed the plane's departure. Lyon was very summery: 25 degrees!
I checked into my hotel, bought online time, and then went shopping at Carrefour. So many interesting foods, so little time! I had a very short nap at the hotel and then got ready to arrive at the club at 11:30. They hadn't opened the doors yet, so I went for a stroll in the lovely summer night to find an ATM. The club looked quite small with very good views of the DJ booth, but it turned out that the "main" event would take place in the BIG room which was not open yet. They only opened it shortly before George arrived. The big room was crap: a "mile-high" DJ booth, irritating lighting, and too much smoke to see anything, let alone take pictures. I chatted to a couple of people who were all very nice and approachable. I talked French all day, which was quite a surprise to myself because I had never really conversed in this language and had the impression that I did not speak it. I definitely understand French though, which is good news.
George came on after 3, and then decided to do a 3 hour gig. I was knackered. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and basically had to be dragged off stage at the end. The resident DJ and helper guy came up to him several times and said something to him, and he nodded understandingly and held a finger up mouthing "only one more song!" Then he played 4 more. They were dismantling the stage while he was still on, so I guess he wasn't really in a hurry to leave.
He addressed
the crowd a couple of times, saying things like how everybody was a batty
boy and how gay marriage wasn't for queers because it's too conformist and
that it's for Elton John.
But the French don't understand any English, so when he ask "Do you know
what a batty boy is? A chi-chi?" there was complete silence from the
crowd! LOL
Everybody was very nice and enthusiastic though, but by 6 AM the remaining
people were just too tired and/or drunk/drugged.
He did not
seem hyper though. Just up for it and playing what he liked. He had a
microphone and sung over "I don't wanna see myself", "Miss Me Blind" -
with DYRWTHM thrown in (?), "Look Pon U", and of course "Turn To Dust".
Just bits and pieces, not the whole songs.
He also said "It took me fucking 4 hours to get here today, we've been
travelling since 4!"
I think there are very few direct BA flights from Heathrow to Lyon, even
though Lyon is a major hub and many budget airlines fly there. But he
probably had to fly Star Alliance with Lufthansa or Air France and change
in Germany or Paris. I don't think his flight was affected by the bad
weather, because if he had missed a connecting flight he would have
travelled more like 6-8 hours, not only 4, which is pretty good for
connection flight.
He wasn't
rushed out at the end, probably because everybody had left anyway by the
time he and Kevin started packing up. Kevin was looking quite fashionable
in G's chequered trilby.
I didn't even hang around afterwards to stalk him. It was already bright
daylight when I came out of the club. He probably would have stopped and
said hello, but I had no energy left and my makeup was a mess, and I just
couldn't face it. He doesn't want to talk to me anyway, I'm not a "batty
boy".
On Sunday I
walked around Lyon a bit, but it was very hot, at least 30 degrees and
humid. By the time I was at the airport it had started to rain.
My flight back was late because somebody had had a "medical emergency" on
the incoming plane. So I missed my train to Sheffield by 5 minutes. It
turned out that this had been the last connection that day, so I was
seriously contemplating checking myself into a B&B in Bishop Stortford and
just taking a train straight into work the next morning.
The other alternative was to go back and take a route via London which
cost me 25 pounds on top. I tried to argue, but the controller was so nice
and helpful... well...
Then it turned out that the Tube - one essential leg of the new journey -
had been suspended, as normal on a weekend. So I missed that train from St
Pancras to Sheffield because I lost too much time pottering around on
replacement busses in the city. But luckily there was another train, which
arrived at midnight! Hurrah!
I couldn't take any good photos, but I recorded some tiny videos, see MySpace blog section. I just couldn't use the flash because there was too much smoke and he was too far away, so the light just happily reflects off a wall of fog and the picture turns out completely white.
My hair is too long and grown out, I just didn't have the time or the money to go to the hairdresser. I've now booked an appointment for Saturday morning, including "highlights". I want some multicoloured strands. I won't have that done in the salon because it would probably cost me dearly, but they can put blond strands in and I paint them at home.
Anyways, because my roots are showing I checked to see if my hair had turned grey. I wouldn't normally know because my hair is always coloured. And yes, I DID find grey hairs! How shocking!!
Sorry, but I cannot keep
my eyes open...
