Another day, another strike

The French are so civilized. Yesterday I took a bus to school. On the light board that scrolls the name of the next stop there was an announcement. Basically "The TAG will not be in service between the hours of 9:30am and 7pm tomorrow during the demonstrations against the CPE".

On the way into class I bumped into a teacher I work with on Tuesdays. She told me not to come in since she would be on strike and the school would likely be closed as a result.

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from my French teacher letting me know that there wouldn't be a French class on Tuesday because of the demonstrations against the CPE. She made it clear that the Alliance Francaise was not on strike, just mindful that others may not want to come in.

The courtesy surrounding a strike is charming. We've known since last Friday that Tuesday would be another demonstration. Just how big was clear through the weekend as more unions and groups promised to join in.

Demonstrating is one of the national past times. The seriousness of the issue at hand can be measured not only by the frequency of the protesting, but by who participates. Students and unions? They have something to complain about every year. A day or two publicly displaying their dispute is normal. A few more days and then people notice. If transportation joins the strike, then everyone is affected. If butchers, bakers, grocers, florists join then the country slows down drastically.

Today the water company came to check our meter. It was scheduled last Friday, but I was curious to see if he'd show up. I went to the post office to pick up a package. Closed. But a quaint sign was posted to the door "closed for the duration of the strike".

I asked another teacher what she could remember of May 1968 - heralded as the ultimate in demonstrations. I was born 1971 and can't remember learning anything about France in the 60s. She was 14 at the time and living in Paris. The depth of her experience was having to show identification on the subway. Which I'm sure she did in a gracious and dignified manner.