“His music’s rubbish, and he’s ginger” declares God (maybe?) at the end of 24 Hour Party People to Tony Wilson. Both portrayed by Steve Coogan. It’s a film I love but I always felt the hate for Mick Hucknall was a bit excessive. Part of the joke, I guess?

Simply Red isn’t a bad band. You might think some of their stuff is bland or even blasé, but I’d never hate on them, and I like two albums of theirs (Life, Stars). Their singles were music I would do homework to (and even write) late at night, near midnight, when I was 15 or so.

A radio station in Mexico called Azul 89 used to play easy going rock and pop all day long, and I felt it wasn’t offensive to my parents to listen to music like this while working.

Fairground was the lead single of Life and I have the song intrinsically wrapped around a Mexican amusement park called La Feria de Chapultepec. It no longer exists and for a while it was a mythical place that I never went to with my family, but with friends. The high school I was in, and later the University I went to, both had events there, where you had a free entry to any of the rides. We all went for the rollercoaster, with its neverending, chaotic line. Nobody respected the line because no one took care. The wooden rollercoaster felt like it was going to fall apart entirely if a mouse sneezed.

La Feria de Chapultepec was always badly illuminated, unkempt, and possibly the site of many unlawful carnal knowledge. But for me, it was another amusement park on my list of places I wanted to visit. I never had a bad time, but I can understand why it got completely redeveloped. It’s a shame that now it’s a massive shopping centre with a couple of middling rides and a small section of the rollercoaster left as a tribute/macabre spectacle.

Things change, time goes on, and the smell of churros and fried food seeping through the hair of your date will eventually fade.

(for Denisse).

-Sam J. Valdés López