La Chance
Bonjour madame…
Do you like hearing stories?
Would you like to hear an intriguing new chapter of a nice story that’s being written? It involves chance, coincidence, fortuitousness and a lot of none of those things, more easily described as life. It’s a largely non-fictional story about an unlargely fictional weirdo.
Great! Let’s find some shade. It may take more than five minutes, if told well…
Past overseas holidays had acquired soundtracks. Probably because there was time to discover and appreciate new music. This trip of a lifetime was no different, except that the soundtrack changed over time and space. The latest music in this soundtrack set the mood for time spent in Scandinavia, and was coincidentally by a Scandinavian female singer: Hauntingly beautiful, melancholy, majestic and uplifting. It was heard a couple of times on the radio, earlier in another part of Europe, and immediately struck a chord [Pun noted]. Thanks to some often undervalued back-announcing, the artist’s name was learned, the album found and downloaded… legally.
Now to backtrack a little [Pun recorded]. The previous travel soundtrack music by a Scottish group also had a significant impact on him. So much so that he decided that he would try to attend a live performance whenever possible. After a few attempts at finding a feasible performance, just before leaving Scandinavia he finally found one at a music festival in Paris. To his surprise, the artist previously mentioned was also performing at the festival! On the same day! And tickets were still available only days in advance! Amazing, he thought. So another fortuitous detour was made. This time to the country where only half of the written letters are pronounced, and only half of the letters that are pronounced are written.
’Really?’, you might ask. To which I might reply: Oui!
Luckily for him, at the festival these two bands performed back-to-back… Come to think of it, the two stages in question were facing in opposite directions, and the performance times overlapped. So for about 20 minutes they were playing back-to-back physically, after which they played back-to-back figuratively. Now there’s a thing!
He was so impressed by the performance of the singer, that the next day he decided to look for any related feedback or comments on the internet. Now, before beginning this search after breakfast, he had already decided to visit a site that featured in one of his favourite romantic films, and had found out how to get there. This is when, as in the film, the ‘none of those things’ takes a back seat to, well, those things. i.e. Chance, coincidence and fortuitousness, in case your short term memory is inferior to that of a twig [*Note 1].
Anyway, the most recent social media post by the singer was a photo of a carousel, with the caption: Is there anything more magical than these things? To his astonishment, he recognised the location immediately: The carousel at the site which he had decided to visit that day. And the time stamp indicated that it was posted 20 minutes ago! He thought, if fate is a thing, then I’m experiencing it right now! Within the next minute, without investigating to confirm his intuition, he started getting ready to leave [*Note 2].
In case thoughts of law and ethics inevitably cross your mind, he also thought to himself: I’m pretty sure that this isn’t stalking, because I had already decided to go there. I’m just leaving more urgently than expected. What better chance, though plainly remote, to meet and thank the artist for creating such affecting music? And he had notions as legally binding as ‘luck’ and ‘How could I not?’ to back him up in court!
So he knew that time was with him. By which I mean that it was running forwards. And a little too fast for his liking. Therefore he considered it once again fortunate that he already had an unused Metro ticket in his wallet. So into the Metro he descended, bombarded by the sounds typical of the Parisian underground. Or at least I assume that they were typical – It’s been around for a while, and this was a typical day. This assumption was possibly supported by the typical music of an accordion, overpowered at intervals by the deafening screeching of trains arriving and departing the station, in rather typical fashion.
He was in a hurry. Or at least in as much of a hurry as a person can be when they’re trying their best not to feel like a crazed member of the paparazzi! And that’s something like which he had never felt, and something like which he really didn’t want to feel. So in fact he was moving at a rather unexceptional pace. But this didn’t stop him from noticing things around him. Things like the animals pictured on an advertising poster on the wall of a narrow walkway tunnel between platforms. Animals that coincidentally featured in a song on one of the singer’s more well-known songs.
While waiting for a connecting train, any remaining doubts he had that he was on the right path were quickly rebuffed by a fortuitous, and not insignificant shoulder-butt to the nose. This totally unexpected and sufficiently painful gift of reassurance was provided courtesy of a passing passenger: A young, smart-casually dressed man who was quick to apologise with a genuine smile and a handshake – Nice guy! That and the need to bend down to take the Metro network map out of his backpack. C’est la vie! Sure, why not.
After confirming that there was no bloody evidence of the impact, he continued on the next train and finally arrived at his destination. The journey across Paris had taken a surprisingly long time, and the logical thought eventually crossed his mind that just because a photo was posted at a particular time, doesn’t mean that it was taken at that time. Either way, he was there now, and not knowing the next best course of action, he simply explored the park, as per the initial plan before coincidence butted in. On the way, he had been considering the best (and least disturbing) ways to introduce himself in the event that the ridiculously unlikely happened: Be nice, but don’t be apologetic. Be forthright, but don’t be rude. Smile, but don’t laugh nervously, etc.
To discover the way upon which he settled, you need do nothing more than realise that this story was the way [*Note 3].
Did you like the story madame? Thank you, and those that helped, for creating and sharing such beautiful music that I have appreciated very much, and that, as music often does, makes times of life that much more special. Some might say magical! 🙂
Au revoir!
*Note 1: A twig that’s had a Memorectomy – The first one in surgical history, in an entirely new branch of medicine [Diagnosis: Pun]. And the procedure went incredibly well. So incredibly well that when asked in an interview how the operation went, the surgeon replied, “What operation? You’re barking up the wrong tree… And that’s a pun!”
*Note 2: Incidentally, I’m working on a movie script called ‘Almost Ready in 60 Seconds’, that will hopefully star Nicholas Cage as a slightly inept pastry chef who’s on a mission to home-deliver. (And that’s a joke!)
*Note 3: Though he did refine it considerably since then. Being able to compose such a story all in one’s head on an unfamiliar trip through the Paris Metro would make Rain Man look like Above-Average-Humidity Man!
– 2016
Kickin’ It In ‘The Boot’
My camera has had plenty to focus on in the last couple of weeks. This time in the land where there are more Pandas rolling on the streets than there are Pandas in China chewing on the jungles, where scooters have only two modes of operation – Parked and speeding, and where body language is often gestured as loudly as the vocal language is spoken, possibly to enable communication over the sounds of car horns and coffee machines pumping out espresso. [Case in point: Right now I’m being blasted by a cacoffeeny of coffee bean grinding. Mama mia!]
And I was tempted to let the pictures do the talking, as it’s my understanding that they tell at least a thousand words each. However, I dismissed that idea for two conceivably good reasons: 1. It’s a good excuse to spend hours writing nonsense; 2. Though pictures may tell a thousand words or more each, their narrative structure is clumsy at best. And the grammar… Atrocious!
The mountains in the north-east were nothing short of spectacular. And everything tall of mediocre. Speaking of heights, one highlight was watching a seemingly inebriated shepherd (maybe he was just under the influence of the overbearing scenery) almost fall to his probable death while trying to retrieve a sheep. A heart-stopping moment, which rudely interrupted our brainstorming session to think of how best to help him. The sheep itself was probably as stuck as a cork floating alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (except of course for the company of millions of tiny pieces of plastic crap that we’ve allowed to accumulate there), yet as uninterested to move as a sheep waiting patiently for its minder to fall off the side of a mountain. His dog also seemed unwilling to help with the mission. Or maybe it was dumbfounded by the stupefying scenery… We’ll never know. Either way, fortunately the shepherd had an adequate grip on a ledge, which arrested his otherwise painful and life-changing descent. Phew! I’m very glad to report that all mammals involved returned safely to the path. As for the small plants and insects trampled underfoot, cloven-hoof and paw: Carnage! An absolute disaster.
I then headed south, hoping to swim in the clear sea while it was still warm. And the water was both warm and clear. Due su due! As the photos attest, there was quotidian rock and water, and there were arguably less quotidian arthropods and sunset fusion explosions. Dizionario e Wikipedia vincere ancora!
I’ve also had the privilege to train with some inspiring people here. Both the older, wise and very experienced generation, and the younger, yet very knowledgable and passionate generation. My new parkour friends have been amazing hosts, and the overall hospitality I’ve received here has been consistently outstanding and humbling. I have again met some belle persone. What is it about people and benevolence anyway?! It’s as if they mix well or something… Like caffè and latte… Like the sun and the horizon… Like scooters and footpaths…
I had more adventures that I could write about, but I have to remember to accommodate attention spans that are fast becoming less like spans, and more like short planks over small puddles. Yes, people have short attention planks these days.
And finally, as a prohibition era gangster might have said when explaining why a floating restaurant owner got ‘whacked’: A river debt, see!
– 2016
UNDER CONSTRUCTION. TWO FLIGHTS DOWN…
ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: ON LANDING! 😀
