Notre DAMN!!!

I heard the song Somebody To Love for the very first time on 2008. I was working and studying in England at the time. That was arguably the longest year of my life, working 14 to 16 hours a day like a typical foreigner. I was lying in the bathtub after yet another 14 hour Saturday, playing George Michael’s Ladies and Gentlemen Disc 2 to calm me down. Faith, the last track faded followed by silence as expected. A few moments later I heard “Thank you very much. This song is one of my favourites, it’s called Somebody To Love” These are the lyrics :

Each morning I get up I die a little

I can barely stand on my feet

Take a look in the mirror and cry

Lord what you're doing to me

I have spent all my years in believing you

But I just can't get no relief, Lord!

Somebody, somebody

Can anybody find me somebody to love?

These lyrics spoke directly to what I was going through. I was exhausted and beginning to doubt God's love. It became my most favourite song from that very moment. The cherry on top was that it was performed by my most favourite musician of all time. George Michael at the Queen Tribute Concert, Wembley Stadium, April 1992

England has a special place in my heart. I made friends there and vowed to go back one day and enjoy the things I could not at the time, including Stonehenge.

I made a list of places to visit at the beginning of the year, England at the top of that list. Making a call to the usual suspect heeded the expected result: Ok let’s go LOL!

We set sail over the Easter weekend, direct flight to Heathrow airport. The weather was as expected: SHITE!!! Gloomy, grey skies the usual

On the menu: George Michael’s house and Stonehenge

I always wished to watch him live before retirement. Listen I would have sold my own father to watch George live. I would have travelled as far as Mars just to watch him perform, then 25 December 2016 happened. Death took my Lovely. It became my goal to visit his house. Just to at least step where he had & imagine what his life was like. Where did he buy his milk & newspaper.

Yes I’m a hip hop head but my most favourite musicians are British: George Michael; Freddie Mercury and Sir Elton John.. in that order.

We arrived as early as 7am, went to the hotel to freshen up and hit the streets. No time to sleep in the land of the British Pound. Your ZAR aint sht, you'd better make the best of your shot stay. First stop was Notting Hill travel bookshop. Have you seen the movie? “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy asking him why he can’t be at least 50cm taller than me.”  Yeah that movie.

England was damn cold as expected but we made it our runway with gloves and scarves. Sibahle?

Day 1 we visited one of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire. I have to express my disappointment. Nooot so big. The Pantheon in Athens is a structure to marvel, Stonehenge I’m not sure. That’s just me.

Changing of The Guard

I’m not a big fan of the royal family though they have caught my attention since the delectable Prince Harry Pothead married a divorced black American woman. How rebellious could this young man be? He doesn’t subscribe to proverbial BS and that’s what makes him so endearing. We been knew he’d marry black. He and his late mom are not followers of any kind. They lead.  Anyway thanks to him being so beautifully controversial we went to watch changing of the guard at the Buckingham palace.

Music Journey

How well do you remember the 1980s? Dolly Parton; Letta Mbulu; Dobbie Gray? I remember dancing to Faith and pretending to not notice the oddity in George Michael. Did we honestly think he’s straight? Come ON!!!

I remember 6 minutes of Bohemian Rhapsody. Mamma Mia Mamma Mia. This trip coincided with Rami Said Malek’s Oscar winning performance in the movie of the same title. He did the damn thing. I watched the movie TWICE onboard. Rami Said Malek’s  performance increased my love for Freddie went from hundred to thousand million and two trillion million percent.

Elton John. Did you know that George Michael sings backing vocals in Nikita? Yes he does. Remember the track Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me where George Michael got two verses on Elton’s song while Elton got only one? LOL!

These are my most favourite musicians, it only made sense to visit their houses right? It didn’t matter that we didn’t get to drink from same wine glasses. A mere presence filled my heart.

George Michael's house

                       If you see me smile for no reason, please understand. My heart is full

We had made a deal before departure. I wanted to go to London, she wanted to go to Paris. So why not indulge her. More than anything she wanted to see the Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame burnt to ashes a few days before our visit unfortunately. Excuse my conspiracy theory but something tells me the young Emmanuel Macron is being subjected to the worst sabotage, from yellow vests to destruction of one of the oldest Catholic Cathedrals in the world under his administration. This is how he’ll be remembered. Masiphume

Back to our trip, we came through Gare du Nord. My first impression was “What the hell?” Paris has changed so much over the years. It is no longer the Paris of fairytales or Mills & Boon novels. My first trip to Paris was in 2004. The French did not care to speak a word of English at the time. They were comfortable in their French ways. No black people in the street or on TV. Thandiswa’s Zabalaza CD that I had brought with  kept me sane, I missed home.  My limited French did not get me far at all. Geez did I mention they had a porn channel at the time? My shock the one day I switched on the TV and got in the shower only to hear moans, that I thought at first were from my neighbours. The moans became louder, I realised they were from my own TV. My Gawwd. I visited Paris again for my birthday in 2013. Things were different, there was a bit of English and a few sprinkles of black people here and there but nothing could have prepared me for what we saw when we disembarked the train this time. Was I in Paris or Johannesburg? WHET? Just outside the famous Louvre museum were Africans selling fake tickets, this is in the middle of Paris ladies and gentlemen, the same Paris you saw in The Devil Wears Prada; Da Vinci Code. I thought to myself, true reflection of what happens when colonisation goes wrong. Europe colonised almost all 54 countries in Africa stripping them of minerals and dignity, Africans have now followed colonialists back home. Poetic Justice

The local metro trains were beyond packed, one had to hold on to their handbag for own safety. Siphi na?     

                                                                           

Police had been deployed throughout Paris for random checks. We were checked once or twice, we did not mind. One never does when there’s nothing to hide. Well… Notre Dame had been cordoned off as expected, we saw very little of it.

Who goes to Paris and not stroll down Champs-Élysées or not sing vouzle vous coche avec moi? This is song was made famous in more recent years by Lil Kim & others. Moulin Rouge it was. The entire Montmartre area is the red light district. I had not seen so much s*x for sale since our trip in Amsterdam lark. 

The Palais Garnier, where George Michael & the Lovelies recorded Symphonica on 9 September 2012. RIP kid

Highlights/Lowlights/Observations

1. It took 2hours to go through customs at Heathrow airport. I laughed a little, there were other South Africans on the same flight. They were so patient I was shocked. Had this happened in South Africa, they would have cried of incompetence and other unsavoury words. We never appreciate our South Africa until we arrive at other countries. China they straight up call us aliens or foreigners at customs queue & what can you do. That’s what they call you. What do call them here, black? LOL a joke my darling

2. Stonehenge is not big. I’ll end it there.

3. What the hell happened to Paris? Lark, WTF please?

We visited George Michael’s house ninani. George Michael. We now know where Elton John stays when in London. We also know where Freddie Mercury recorded. What the hell? All this in one lifetime?

I’m blessed to have the best travel companion in the entire world. Noz & I are one person, we don’t care about much, we’re happy just being us. What other travel companion is easy using a hotel bathroom to freshen up and hitting the streets after an 11 hour flight? Yeah that’s her. Paris together brings us to 17 countries travelled since 2015 at the time of this release.

South America soon maybe? Yes, No? Watch this space