Ever since Dave booked our one way tickets to Toulouse, I’ve been humming the Boney M’s 1976 hit ‘One way ticket to the blues’. This is because, I not only think I’m very clever with my play on words but also because this annoying, repetitive dirge perfectly reflects my emotional heartbreak of saying goodbye to a country that I love.
I have come to believe that most of life and life’s problems can be explained or solved by listening to popular music.
Like everyone, I have had to make important, life changing decisions and I’m sure you all have your own way of doing it. My first was at the age of 20.
I’d had an extremely acrimonious breakup and was at a loss at what to do next. Luckily, Randy Crawford’s ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ was number 2 in the UK charts at the time and she was able to give me all the advice I needed.
So, I boarded a plane to Cape Town with my parents. They were leaving the UK permanently to get away from a three day working week and power cuts. I thought I would tag along for six months and get a tan.
But, as John Lennon once told me, ‘life happens when you are busy making other plans’. I fell in love with South Africa and a South African. I stayed, produced South African babies and had a far better life than if I’d stayed in the UK.
When I was widowed, Celine assured me that ‘My heart would go on’ and it did. What’s more, ‘I’m still standing’ and ‘I have learnt to love again’.
With my new love, comes new opportunities. What about leaving a country that has shaped us and where everything is safe and familiar, and move to southern France, where we know no-one and can’t speak the language?
Thankfully, there is always ABBA. They have a song for every dilemma ever invented. Benny Andersson wrote a song for Frida about her tough decision to leave her young family, in order to pursue her singing career. It’s called ‘I wonder’ and in it she asks similar questions. From wistful reflection to strident defiance, she admits how scared she is but declares she is not a coward. She finally makes the decision to take this one chance in a life time. ‘It can’t go wrong’ she trills. Well, it certainly didn’t for her’.
So, with ‘My mind made up’ and ‘A song in my heart’, I will take that one way trip and, as the famous philosopher, Pink, once said, ‘Let’s get this party started!’
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