Bah, humbug

I strongly suspect I'm some kind of grouchy curmudgeon who is wholly unsuited to life amongst other human beings. People just BUG THE SHIT OUT OF ME, sooooo damn easily.

I've always had issues with patience and tolerance, and seriously? Those issues just seem to be getting worse (or maybe it's just that people in the south of France and more particularly irritating - that is a very real possibility).

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my utterly frustrating day - in which I trudged miles in blazing sun whilst spectacularly failing to accomplish what I set out to do, partly because I don't drive (I know, I know) and partly because GAH. PEOPLE. GAH.

But I will tell you that I'm getting pretty good at being snarky and - let's be honest - downright unpleasant on the phone with dickheads.

In addition, here in France, 21 June is the "Fête de la Musique" and I become even more delightfully curmudgeonly as a result.

This Fête, inaugurated back in 1980-something by foppish Champagne Socialist Jack Lang, celebrates music (duh). Every town, city and village has its official programme, more or less elaborate. Montpellier is a biggish city, so there are "official" events set up all over the place (there's a huge esplanade place about 100 m from where I live, so obviously there's a stage set up there, for example), and most bars have some kind of musical entertainment planned for tonight. In addition to that, all kinds of opportunistic events set up their speakers on street corners, seeming to believe that their music is fantastic as long as you play it loud enough.

And this is my main gripe with the Fête - it's so damn LOUD. Some of the bands playing are quite good, but would be infinitely better (in my opinion) if they didn't use those damn amplifiers. The cacophony in the city centre is downright unbearable (imagine different groups on just about every street corner or small square, all blaring their music - it's hideous), not to mention the huge crowds everywhere.

Obviously, I won't be going out tonight because I'm alone at home with the girls. But I'm absolutely not bothered - even before D left, I rarely went out, he usually went either alone or with friends, not me (as I said, I'm not suited for life amongst humans apparently) - but I AM bothered by the fact that there will be music blaring at me from at least 2 different places - the aforementioned esplanade place, where there's a huge stage set up, and a bar about 3 doors down, also with a stage set up outside it - most likely into the small hours of the morning.

I can't believe I'm such a curmudgeon. When I was young, I loved to go out dancing and stuff (though I have never been to many concerts, mainly because I react so badly to cigarette smoke, which obviously wasn't banned back then) but now? Can't be arsed. I DO still like dancing, but prefer (or rather, would prefer if the occasion were to arise, which it hasn't for as long as I can remember) private parties, with friends, not huge crowds of increasingly drunk strangers.

So yeah. Bah, humbug indeed.

This is, technically, the longest day of the year, but I suspect it'll feel more like the longest night.