Happy May Day and all of it's stresses.
Tuesday night was an impromptu evening at the Lapin Agile, Maja had a student pass and apparently so did many, many other people.
The place was so packed that the singers spent most of their time standing.
Strange place to be so packed, the audience felt so much more like an audience, rather than a group of oddities drawn together by song.
We sat across the room from where I'd sat with David that time we'd gone, somehow everytime I go there is a comparison with my first time, still the most magical.
It was wonderful still, on Tuesday, our ecclectic little gang once again drawing the notice of the perfomers, Maja's trained voice rising higher and stronger than the professionals' over one particular song, Cristal and I supplying lyrics for the audience participation verses (I even got one right, the room was utterly silent for a pocket of seconds and then my little voice supplied the missing syllables and strange hunchbacked Maurice grinned at me as he continued his tango), Seb and Guillaume singing along to all the Brassens choruses that even I didn't know all of the words to.
And the soprano of the group kept grinning at Maria, trying to get her to smile, the usual accordionist wasn't there, but her replacement was a girl with six hoop earrings in each ear, dressed conservatively but somehow the tiny tattoo on her hand spoke to my heart.
Beers afterwards, and we sang on, Cristal and I and "La Vie en Rose" marching down the street and passers-by cheered us on and joined in a verse or two whilst Maja and Seb ran on ahead, barking at each other.
Bright and early yesterday morning I fed the neighbourhood kids and we caffeinated and raced off to the Paris Fair, where I bought a silk scarf for my mom, a lizard for my hair, a bottle of St-Emillion and had a minor claustrophobic moment over our sausages, while we stood too still and too many people gathered around us.
Princess' influence somehow had me wearing my old fairy skirt, black boots and black blouse and we fluttered about the pavillions drawing too many gazes, too many beer-selling men with too many kind words and appreciation of our smiles, but we laughed and ran on and stopped by the jazz band and ran along behind the marching gang dressed up as the Blues Brothers with the saxophones, and by seven in the evening we were on the metro back home, the day having disapppeared away from us, we ate quickly and lightly and were off to the "Piano Vache" with Seb and Guillaume after too many phone calls telling us to do too many things...
...and once in the bar, the first goth bar I've stepped into in nearly a year, my skirt gathered up about me, my tattoos drawing appreciative gazes, Seb huddled in the corner uncomfortable, Guillaume trying to bop along to the music.
So many beautiful women there, just a bar, not a dance cave, we drank ciders and beer and attempted to recognize the music.
Eventually, we did, sang along to a few, even the french ones railing against the Front National.
I can't wait for this Saturday, we're heading out to the actual club...
...I wonder if I remember how to dance.
Ending the evening, Seb was behaving strangely. Perhaps I was too easily annoyed by him since we've been spending too much time together with him on vacation, perhaps he was more nervous than usual, the new experience, the long day, beginning work again in the morning.
Perhaps many, many things, hopefully nothing more complicated, although this morning we wondered if somehow he was getting a little confused in our friendship, his girlfriend spending a week in Germany and him all flustered...
...he behaved a little more erratically than usual a few times, perhaps I was ashamed of his behaviour in front of princess, I don't know.
But he's going away for a wedding this weekend, we parted ways still in politeness, and perhaps on Monday all will be well again.
In the meantime, I got notice from the travel agent that my tickets arrived, and I'll be in Montreal in two weeks.
And I have work to do, traces of Berrurier Noir resounding in my head, my skirt splayed across the sofa and a thousand shadowed memories playing out across the dancefloor that had been buried in my head.