Hello,
So, today is (another) strike day in the French transport system. The big trains were the only ones involved, not the metros, but today I had problems on both. First, my metro was jam packed--totally normal, so I took a deep breath and shoved myself on. After rolling along about half-way to the next station, we stopped in the middle of the tunnel and sat for a couple of minutes. We started rolling again and made it to the next station where we waited for a long time without moving only to be told that we were going to the next station...but no further. This has never happened to me before, so I wondered what on earth was up. Usually when you get on the metro going somewhere, it goes all the way there. They said it was because of something that had happened at Saint Lazare (my destination because I was taking one of the big trains going out of the city), but they didn't say what had happened, and they didn't say the station was closed, so I kept moving in that direction. Didn't even occur to me to be worried. I just knew I had an appointment to get to in Bois Colombes, and I needed to catch a train to get there.
So, I got off the metro and started walking toward the bus stop. Next bus: 5 minutes. No problem...except the bus was overflowing with people. So I started walking again. Got to another bus stop and another bus, and I could actually fit on that one. Finally made my way to Saint Lazare, and oh la la, was it a mess! A MASS of people all walking like Tim Conway's little old man character from the Carol Burnette show--an impossibly slow shuffle. The crowd was so impressive that one guy took out his phone and started filming. Then I saw that there was an ambulance sitting in the middle of the station and ambulance workers making their way around. I never figured out what had happened, but it was apparently coming to a conclusion. So after doing the little old man shuffle for a few platforms, I saw the crowd beginning to thin and took off toward my train which was leaving in about 1 minute. IT WAS PACKED! See, with the strike, there are fewer trains running...so the ones that are running still have to carry the same number of people. I ran all the way to the last car and again shoved myself on. Can't believe I managed to get on that train. It was not comfortable, but I only had to go four stops, so it was bearable, and once we started moving, everything went smoothly. I even made it to my appointment on time. Fortunately, I had allowed almost 30 extra minutes because of the strike, and I needed every one of them.
So, today I'm grateful for, among other things:
- just a little morning inconvenience and nothing horrible happening at Saint Lazare
- making it to my appointment on time
- sushi for lunch...yum
- a perfectly smooth commute home after work
- my cute spotted umbrella and the fact that I remembered to put it in my bag this morning
The strike will be over at 8:00am tomorrow, and I am glad for that--even though today was the only day this week that it mattered to me as I won't be taking any of the outside of the city trains until next week. I like staying in Paris for work...so much easier.
So what about you? How was your day? What are you grateful for?
Here's a funny little pic of Tim Conway playing the slow little old man...anyone remember the character's name?
bisous
