So, on Thursday, French transportation workers went on strike because there is a lack of funding for their retirement (man, can you imagine if Americans went on strike for stuff like that?). Anyway, SNCF, the major rail company, was on strike, and many other transportation companies went on strike as well. In the days leading up to the strike, we were warned that metro, tram, and bus schedules would be iffy, depending on how many workers chose to strike.
My experience of the strike was pretty minimal. As it turned out, the metro and the trams were going pretty strong, and it was mostly just the buses that were affected by the strike. As I live in a central part of town, I rarely ever take buses, so really I wasn't affected much at all. I even missed the strikers and their "manifestation" at Place Bellecour. I'm just glad I hadn't planned on going anywhere outside of Lyon, because even in the past couple of days, SNCF has had limited service because of a continuation of the strike.
I was talking with Wei and her friend on Friday about the strike. Wei has been here for a year already, and her friends has been here for two, and they both had stories to tell about weeklong strikes, where you couldn't get anywhere because the metros and trams were essentially shut down. And, two years ago there was a student strike at the university that lasted months. On the one hand, I'm glad that this strike didn't squash any of my plans, but at the same time, I think it would be kind of cool to have a good "grève" story to tell when I go home. Especially since the strike is such a strong French tradition.
Today I got to experience an interesting lyonnais tradition: the distribution of the Petit Paumé. What it is is a little book that lists all the cool places in Lyon--restaurants, bars, clubs, theaters, etc. And it's put together by students, and thy rate all of the different locations and write little blurbs about them. The book is free, and the presentation of it is a big deal. Last night there was a big pre-Petit Paumé shindig, which I didn't attend, and then this afternoon at Place Bellecour, they started giving them out. It was crazy. They were supposed to start at 1:00; I got there at 1:30 and there were a LOT of people crowded in front of a stage, where they were carrying stacks of books around, but they hadn't started handing them out yet. While I waited, the crowd kept growing. I could see the metro exit from where I was standing, and people kept coming out in waves and joining the group crowded around the little stage (I learned later that there were actually two stages with equally large crowds). Then, they started handing them out, and you would have thought I was in a group of 13 year old girls trying to get to Justin Timberlake. Everyone was pushing toward the stage and then there were people who had gotten their books and were trying to go the other direction (sometimes with stacks of the precious book). It was a mess, but I pushed my way through and made it to the stage, nabbed two, and fought my way out of the crowd (which was not easy, lemme tell you).
Taking the metro home, I started flipping through the book, and it is so cool! Every year it has a theme, and this year the theme was "Once upon a time..." so there is an introduction with a story about a magic fairy and a bunch of orphaned children, and all through the book there are fairy tale pictures, and even the little blurbs for the different places fit the theme. It's really a very neat little book.
Anyway, there is the excitement in France these days. In my life, everything has been pretty much business as usual.
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