ONE DAY WE'RE GONNA LIVE IN PARIS

Paris (Aeroplane Remix) by rodrigosupertramp

In May 2010 I went to see Aeroplane, a Belgian DJ duo, play Mint Club in Leeds, without a doubt one of the UKs best venues for dance music. I have a huge love for electro music, and although the gig was right in the middle of my Uni exams, I just knew I had to go (I wrote about it here). They finished an electric set with their hit remix of Friendly Fires 'Paris' and in the crowd, surrounded by just a few friends, I experienced a sensation of genuine happiness. A hopeful, excited, knot-in-your-stomach kind of desire. There was no anti-climax to my high, only a continuous moving forward, of making plans for Paris.  

        One day we're gonna live in Paris /I promise, I'm on it /When I'm bringing in the money /I promise, I'm on it...

The song stuck in my head for weeks, which turned soon to months, and still it is the highest played song on my iTunes. At that point, my only memories of Paris were the fleeting souvenirs of a day trip from London with my parents when I was 8 years old: the most vivid being the image of an Indian woman on the metro with hair which grazed her ankles, and I was struck by the beauty of the shimmering black cascade. Then my Mum took me to the Galleries Lafayette and we picked out a whole wardrobe of outfits for me, ALL in yellow and blue.

      And every night we'll watch the stars/They'll be out for us, they'll be out for us/And every night, the city lights/They'll be out for us, they'll be out for us

The outgrown  blue and yellow outfits were folded neatly into a crate for the charity shop, and  suddenly I was 20 years old and I realised I knew nothing of this city, the City of Lights, the toast of Europe. So, on a dancefloor in Leeds, when that Aeroplane song came on, I made a vow to myself: I was going to live in Paris. 

      So go and pack your bags for the long haul/We're gonna lose ourselves/I promise/This time it's you and me for evermore...

     ...And every night we'll watch the stars/They'll be out for us, they'll be out for us/And every night, the city lights/They'll be out for us, they'll be out for us...

 Photos taken by my Mum, who who visited this weekend, and inspired by the ethereally charming Isabelof Bohemian Musings.

The other night we drank rosé and spoke haphazard Françeutsch to each other (that's French-Deutsch)