Summer Solstice

Summer solstice is indeed the day which experiences the longest duration of sunlight but even then, I still fell short of time to do everything I wished. And this time it came at the expense of watching the Argentina Holland clash I had eagerly anticipated. After spending the bulk of the day in the hotel room watching shows on BBC Prime, I headed across the street for dinner and decided to dine al fresco for no particular reason. As a matter of opinion, I don't really enjoy dining al fresco because everytime I do so, I find myself torn between savouring my meal and the passing of a sweet distraction my roving eye captures haha. However, as I feel dividing my attention dilutes, rather than enhances the whole experience, I usually always end up vacillating between the 2. Yet, today I chose to indulge in my dish of cassoulet since meal prices in France are generally steep due to the comparative weakness of the Singapore currency. After finishing nearly half of my dish, I noticed small groups of young people from across the street, walking in the direction of my left. Though initially unfazed, I later saw a long stream of attractive French girls which started to flow in that way too. While feeling a sudden rush of motivation which stemmed from the French beauty I took a while to discern and appreciate, I devoured the remainder of my dish with alacrity and sought the advice of a waiter on current happening events in the city, as well as where I should have gone from there. After that quick conversation in poorly structured english sentences, I went against my better judgement of making a left turn and instead headed right because I was told many live band performances lined the streets which progressed in that direction. On my walk through the vivacious and bustling streets of the city, I witnessed musicians creating harmonies from an array of genres ranging from red-indian(and they were dressed like em too) to hardcore rock and roll. Among others were street jazz quartets or quintets and even a band which comprised of pre-youths that strummed tunes passionately yet with the simplicity of heart the crowd could easily identify with. Despite being distinctly set apart by genre, ethnicity as well as collective individualism, I was left with the impression that each band on the contrary, complemented one another in harmony.In further progression down the street, I finally reached the town square where the magnifique le capitol(current theatre and town hall) dominated its length. However, what really astounded me was not the grandeur of the architecture or vast expense I'm constantly deprived of in Singapore, but the mega party happening on the square with its atmosphere spilling over to the surrounding streets. It was completely havoc I swear, with hoards of people grooving on the boundless dance floor(square) and even gyrating on the concrete barriers of a path which led to an undergroud car park as a makeshift podium with invisible poles that soared to nowhere. The music though, was loud yet tolerable at first. However, it slowly soured when I started to hear shockwave worthy beats without any semblance of melody. This hastened my exit through the mammoth barrier of humanity. For ur interest sake, I had been surveying the party like a wallflower right behind a line of girls that were reasonably near the DJ. Unfortunately, those girls were with a couple of other guys which therefore deterred me from approaching any for a dance. In addition, speaking to a French girl in English would sound even more ridiculous than trying to bag a girl with an inane pickup line in a language understood by both. Then again, an inviting smile might just work because commonly in Singapore n perhaps the rest of the world which i'm unfamiliar of, there isn't much of a chase in picking girls up since her consent I infer, usually but with exceptions of course, mainly hinges on the appearance of the guy. I hope the rest of world isn't all like Singapore in this respect even though there're many things such as social security and cleaniness of environment that I wish others would imitate my homeland. These thoughts ran through my head as I bulldozed my way out of the herd of party goers, and from there I hit a street where crowds were carousing the night away with songs and cheers while moving in a convoy with all their hands rested on the other's shoulders, urging each one forth all the time. For a moment, I contemplated integrating myself into the action but returned to my hotel room as it was pretty late already. Oh I also nearly forgot about the Argentina Holland match till I knew I had to conclude this post, which was just a few seconds from now. Okay it's done and pictures may follow if I feel like. yah bye.
-Kenneth Wong