Music is the future ..

I haven't seen very much of the July music festival this year - none of the headline acts up in the Cité and very little of the free stuff down here in town.

So tonight I thought, as we are into the last few days of the festival, I would venture down to the Place Carnot, find a spare table and a glass of wine and listen to some music for free.

Alas, it was a bad decision. The band, Tairo, were described in the official promotional material as playing an engaging mix of reggae and soul. Now I know that my reading of French isn't perfect but I didn't come across the word 'crap' anywhere and frankly that would have been a better description. It certainly wasn't soul and it was a bland impersonation of reggae - beat too fast and no feeling or emotion - even sung in French I could work that out. One song's chorus line was 'blah blah blah' which was very apt and I even had my very own Irish bar musician on hand to sum it up for us all - 'fecking shite' was his considered opinion.

So in trying to get everyone up on their feet to dance, they got everyone up on their feet to leave.

The general opinion appears to be that the free music has been of poorer quality this year because more money has been spent on the headline acts, for which of course they have charged higher prices than last year. Well I for one think that last years acts were better than this years - Diana Ross, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Massive Attack against Depeche Mode, Lenny Kravitz, Status Quo and The Scorpions - but it is all subjective I guess.

If I was in charge of the event next year I would be looking to get Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy, Oasis, Blur and Paul Weller here with guest appearances by Queen, Chet Baker and Frank Sinatra - but that probably won't/can't happen.

Earlier in the day - in fact much much earlier in the day - at 5am, I awoke feeling wide awake and so got up. I actually really enjoy that time of the morning (if I have got to bed at a reasonable hour the night before) - it is quiet and it is cool (20 degrees is cool to be doing stuff but too hot to be trying to sleep).

It is one of the advantages of self-employment and not having fixed hours. I get up at 5am. I do some admin and some ironing in the peace and quiet whilst the sun slowly comes up and a magnificent dawn heralds another scorching day in the Languedoc. I venture to the market and the boulangerie at 7.30 and return to sort out the client breakfasts and any other needs. I then head back to the market for anything else I need, especially if I am doing a dinner as I am tomorrow night.

After such an early start I am absolutely ready for lunch at midday. "C'est midi - bon appetit" - as the radio jingle here says so accurately, after which it would be silly not to have a little battery recharge, or siesta as the Spanish put it, or thinking time as my lovely wife would describe it.

The only spanner in the works today was clients asking to borrow the bikes - well yes, I suppose you can 'hire' them for the day but you are stopping me going out and doing the one bit of good exercise that I manage to get in these days. Obviously, I didn't say the last bit to them, but just said "of course" with a smile on my face and advised them on the best route and where to stop for a picnic.

Such are the demands of being a concierge!