I had an appointment yesterday evening and when I got to the bus stop I discovered that the bus I was supposed to take wasn’t running due to a manifestation. So I decided to walk and ended up smack in the middle of the protest.
I’ve seen Parisian protests before, but usually from a safe distance. While part of me didn’t mind adding this to my list of French experiences, the rest of me was annoyed at having to push my way through the crowd.
Here are some photos:
French civil service workers went on strike today in protest of Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age. Read about it here.
Surprise, surprise – there's another strike in France. This time it's the Le Monde journalists. I'm starting to believe that "Comment faire la grève" is a subject taught in French schools. Following a 20m euros loss last year, the paper is planning to cut jobs, most of them journalist positions and of course the journalists are not happy. Read about it here.
I arrive home this evening and the roommate informs me that: 1) RATP is going on strike again next week; 2) EDF was on strike today and 3) a bomb exploded and killed one person in the same building as Sarkozy’s former law office. With everything going on this city recently combined with the happenings at work, I feel like I live in the twilight zone and Rod Sterling is just around the corner. I’m counting the days until I return home to some normalcy, although I suppose hurricane strength winds, flooding and a state of emergency aren’t exactly “normal”.
The strikes are still going on and the Parisians are getting irritable…ok, more irritable than usual. Even though the bus trip to the office this morning took 3x longer than normal, I had a seat and there was a passenger who made the rest of us laugh. He kept calling the driver and anyone else he spoke to “cousin”. “Vas-y cousin, avance!” “Tu descends cousin?” “C’est bon cousin, ferme la porte.”
The trip home this evening, however, was less than amusing. A colleague and I left early trying to try to beat the rush hour - an idea that didn’t quite work out as planned. We were able to squeeze onto the crowded bus and after 30 or so minutes of tortoise pace traffic, the driver encountered a car that wasn’t far enough to the left. He yelled out the window a few times and eventually the car moved over, but not enough for Mr. Chauffeur’s liking. The bus moves forward and we hear the unmistakable crunch of one vehicle hitting another. The crazy thing is that the driver seemed to have hit the car on purpose, to make a point.
Well that was it. With that little crunch, restraint went out the window. One passenger starts yelling at the driver about how they (RATP, SNCF etc.) are annoying us all with this ongoing strike. An elderly lady yells at this passenger that they have the right to strike. “C’est constitutionnelle!” The bus driver and the car driver are screaming at each other. And pretty soon many of the passengers are bellowing at I have no idea whom. The driver opens the doors to let people off and announces that he is obliged to wait for the police. So now not only has he pissed off the car driver and all of the passengers on board, but all of the bus drivers and passengers who are behind him, because he’s blocking the bus lane!
After this lovely voyage I walked home since I didn’t have the energy or patience to fight with aggressive Parisians to force my way onto the metro. It took me 40 minutes to get home, but the nice thing is that part of the walk was through picturesque Montmartre. The strikes are supposed to go through Wednesday…If today was any indication, people may soon become violent. Bienvenue à Paris and watch out for any irritated Parisians wielding baguettes!
Anyone who’s lived in France for more than, oh…two weeks, could tell you that strikes (grèves) are as much a part of life here as baguette, wine, stinky cheese and cdc. During the past month there have been strikes by RATP and SNCF, the opera and Air France and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were others I didn’t hear about. Because we didn’t suffer enough during that last round, we’re now in the midst of yet another strike that started last night. I am typically Parisian in the sense that I don’t have a car and rely on my feet and public transportation, so I worked from home today. I’m all for trying to protect your pension scheme, but I’m also selfish. And I get annoyed when my convenient transportation is interrupted for more than a day or two. Let’s see how Sarko handles the situation. I expect that I’ll be working from home through the end of the week.
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