In France, people strike.
That sentence is a summary of this blog entry. The worst thing is, you don't really know they are striking until the do. Take Thursday as an example, I got off the train at Gare de L'Est and was handed a piece of paper by someone in those distinctive SNCF uniforms, she said "Les horaires pour demain". I understood what she said, and simply said Merci. It was only after reading it did I get it. SNCF were striking. This wasn't a nation wide strike, this was a local one affecting only Transilien Line P and RER E. Fine, I went about by business on Thursday, but guarded the piece of paper close for Friday. I arrive at the station on Friday on my way to the fourth and final language assistants training day, and there it was on the board. The strike would not only affect Friday, but also Saturday. Great, I got on my rail replacement bus and off I went. The evening saw a massive two hour gap between trains, so I rushed along the metro to make it. And did. Saturday was less affected, I still had an hour gap between trains, but had no problem. The problem was arriving in Meaux and seeing a sign saying (in French obviously) that the Strike would also affect trains on Sun 2 Dec, and we would also see quelques cancellations on Monday.
So, there you have it folks, strikes happen randomly, and for some reason can be extended with very little warning.
In happier news, It's now December, I am 22 days away from going home for the festive period and I'm quite excited about that. As much as I'm enjoying my year abroad, I do feel like I'm ready to return to my home country for a while and see people!
Video blogs, tried it. Never again!
I was asked to do a video blog for the fine folks at the University of Kent French Society to tell the future year abroaders what to expect, I did this. I decided staring into a camera was very daunting! Not sure I'll try it again, but who knows. Watch this space I guess.
A bientot!
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