Disgruntled Parisians Chauffeurs part 2

Should have known better- what is the point of calling a strike if you are not planning on making a real nuisance of yourself. The taxi chauffeurs just convened at a convenient time for them in order to wreak havoc the rest of the day.

They left in a convoy and proceeded to circle around Gare Montparnasse, with full disregard for traffic lights and signals, honking horns, blocking traffic, anad I saw alot of near misses with Parisians just trying to get to appointments, work and pick up their children. I never heard the outcome of all of this though.

I did hear of a "Moteurs en Colere Association-Angry Motorcycle Drivers Association-the Hell's Angels of France? I don't know, have to investigate futher.

Disgruntled Parisian chauffeurs

Good day to stay away from Paris, or to stay bundled under a quilt- it's dark and rainy and cold and the taxi drivers are on strike and have decided to demonstrate in the 7th, as of 10 AM, in what seems to me to be a non-strike. Who needs to go to the 7th at 10AM in the morning?
Very civilized, when you think about it, to wait until the end of rush hour. Although there will be an influx of taxi drivers from all over France, so it will probably get quite messy.

Will anyone truly miss them? It is so complicated to get a taxi on the streets of Paris that I stopped trying years ago.

The French-and the law...?

i just listened to an interview on France Info of a woman on a walk in the Bois du Boulogne, with her Rottweiler, running free somewhere near, without the mandatory leash. This happens to be illegal, given the Rottweiler penchant for attacking innocent children and this being one of the last Indian summer Sundays when most Parisian families have abandoned the safety of their apartments for a walk in the park.

This woman, when asked about her blatant disrespect for the law, stated that she could not care one whit for the law, not one whit.

The Brits and the French have been at war (however peacefully) for years, centuries, perhaps millenia.

But I have to cite an instance of perfect harmony I discovered a while ago: the simple Scottish oatcake eaten with the Queen of cheese from many a cheese lover's short list, the regal Comté.
Especially when ordered from 'La Fruitière" in the Jura, whose number I may supply you if you like.

An instance of serendipitous accord.

Strike Watch

There are some "movements sociaux" = strike on the northern branch of the Transilien, the train that moves passengers around l'Ile de Paris.

More customer service -the SNCF-don't get me started.

This is just the beginning of what will be several posts, or one very long one.

I was just invited to the country this weekend -which would entail a drive from a place I know, an hour train out of Paris and a place I know how to find by looking at the 'Transilien'. It also brings me into my beloved Gare Montparnasse, a mere 5 minute jaunt home.

For this extra excursion however, I will have to take the train from Dieppe (a new departure city) to a different train station across Paris - the Gare St. Lazare. Paris has six train stations - Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Gare du Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz, Gare Montparnasse, and Gare St. Lazare. This is not counting the Gare d'Orsay, now a museum.

With the internet, this should be easy, right? You go to SNCF (whatever that means), type in the departure and arrival cities, and voila, right?

But nooooooo. You are meant to know which service you will be traveling on. And without a handy glossary. Is it a TER, a Transilien, the TGV ( I doubt that one), iDTGV ( a new way to travel, sounds scary enough), or FRET, if you want to travel in baggage? Are the French just born with this innate knowledge?

Since I am clueless, I figure the Voyages-SNCF link will do the trick. But it is a half an hour later and I still don't have the right departure city. I've sent an aggrieved email to my host begging for help.

And a lovely week-end in the country turns into more stress...

Customer service France Telecom/Orange style

My good friend Eric now has three new cellphones with two different numbers.

This was never his intent. He went to France Telecom/Orange to buy the new Blackberry, to eliminate the need to carry around telephone, agenda, and camera. This operation took about 2 days (thanks to generally inattentive and unknowledgeable salespeople, which I can imagine, having already tried to buy a Blackberry through SFR last year, to no avail.)

It became so complicated and expensive, that he just gave up and signed on for a new subscription, complete with new number. (I know I don't have to describe the horror of having to get everyone from the old phone transferred to the new phone, as well as using the new number).

The glitch was that Eric arrived home, he realized that his new super-duper gadget DID NOT HAVE A CAMERA. For a man making his living turning over furniture and objets d'art, a camera is one of those indispensable features he is not willing to give up.

No problem, he says to himself, 'I'll just look up the number, work it out with the salesperson and send my assistant to exchange it tomorrow.' This is where it got tricky. France Orange, A TELEPHONE/COMMUNICATION COMPANY, has NO LISTED TELEPHONE NUMBER for the store. That's right, if you want to complain, you have to go back and do it in person.

They certainly know what they are doing. I have heard Eric tell this story several times, and each time, those listening just look at him sympathetically, knowingly- THEY HAVE EACH AND ALL HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE. They all had to return to the shop to complain about one problem or another. No wonder France Orange won't list their number-too many complaints to handle. Isn't it just a little too ironic that a company in the business of providing phone numbers for others has no way to be contacted by phone?

Which is probably why this YouTube video Brenda calls Becky has a lot of fans in France.

Last chapter- Eric is quite happy with his Blackberry minus camera, as he is now the proud owner of a separate camera. What we will settle and be delighted with, when the going gets tough...

Chocolate Truffle Factoid

Was flagging by the end of the day yesterday - and understandably, from walking around Paris with an indefatigable Eveready bunny in the flesh- my dear friend Beth. So I ducked into Jeff de Bruges to buy some chocolates for a dinner party and for a much-needed bitter cocoa boost. This, in the form of one of my faves-chocolate truffles. No yucky milk chocolate for this girl-bleagh.

However, much to my dismay, I was having trouble locating the truffles. And surprise! to discover that there is actually a season for truffles-as they have to be refrigerated at lower temperatures, they are not made before November.

Now that I think about it, isn't that silly? My aunt in Philadelphia could be forgiven for believing that the French don't use ice cubes because they don't yet have refrigeration.

And come to think of it, global warming does not bode well for truffles. On the other hand, if France continues to have summers like this past one, they will be serving truffles on the beaches of St. Tropez in August.

And where is Marie Antoinette when we need her, "Let them eat chocolate truffles-yeah!'

But wait, there's more. For those of you who think (like me) one of the all-time great food combos is ginger confit with a thick coating of bitter chocolate, this also turns out to be seasonal, but with no particular rhyme or reason. If you have a year-round craving for choco/ginger, you would find yourself on a patchwork hop through Paris, Jeff de Bruges around St. Valentine's Day, and Jadis et Gourmande (in my mind, one of the best chocolatiers of Paris), makes them available for Easter.

Umm, does anyone see an opportunity here?

Fighting progress

France is a country that will resist change, even when being led by a new dynamic president which the French themselves are responsible for electing.

The flak that Sarko receives for being young and dynamic is puzzling, compared to the phlegmatic Chirac. Sarko is criticized for jogging instead of walking, and each positive proposition is met with an outbreak of criticism, reasons why it can't or shouldn't be done, and fear-what will he do next? He is moving so fast that it is certainly hard to predict.

Predictably, the hard-core Francophones are still fighting the adoption of foreign words- predominantly English words, now thanks to the web, the influx even greater, a battle they will lose and has kept me giggling for the 15 years I have been observing and trying to understand this country.

They are at it again, proposing that citizens replace 'web' with 'toile', as in spider's web'toile d'araignée', and determined to spell blog with an e, bloge.
Catchy, isn't it? Harumph.

Instead of fighting the wave, why don't these naysayers just put their energy into going with the flow and creating new ideas, new applications, be leaders instead of begrudging followers?

I am definitely noticing more and more people living on the street. Not sure if it is because of the relatively comfortable temperatures, the open borders, but I see a defnite increase in bodies huddled in building entrances, even since June, and find it curious, especially in a country so renowned for its social services.

However, they are outnumbered about 5 to 1 by the amount of security and police one passes daily. I hear this is due to the amount of rising terrorist threats, thanks to Sarko's growing friendship with Prez Bush.