MY FIRST STRIKE

Today I get to "work from home" because the French public transport system has gone on strike. This means that nearly all Metro trains, buses, trams, the RER and even intercity trains are not running (or running at such a severely reduced schedule you would be an idiot to even attempt to go near the stations). Basically the new President, Sarko, wants to have talks with these guys about changing their (extremely generous) retirement schemes (which were put in place in the 60's I think, and for one thing give retirement at 55).

Striking has a long history in France, and I think the French are particularly good at it. Nearly every weekend there is a manifestation (protest) for something.

Its interesting to see how much not having transport, particuarly in Paris, affects everything. Half of people (who don't own cars or bikes and live too far away to walk) can't get to work. Many schools are closed (meaning lots of parents have to take the day off anyway). The last major strikes were in the 90's and this went on for weeks. Now 1 day is a novelty, but I can imagine after even a few days where you can't get anything done, or go anywhere, is a major pain in the arse. As my bike got stolen, it would take me maybe 2 hours to walk to work. And there are the new free bikes but you have got an extremely small chance of bagging one.

So it will be interesting to see who capitulates, and if the trains run tomorrow......

BLOODY JOHNNY WILKINSON

John Wilkinson, an English rugby player in this year's world cup is the main reason why Australia, and now, France are out of the series... not to mention that England is through to the final. Last night we went to Champ de Mars (the big park under the Eiffel Tower) to watch the first of the semi final matches. There were several screens up with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, lots of flares, cheering and commiserating.....

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

Next year will bring a couple of big changes for the people of France. One that a lot of us are particularly looking forward to is the smoking ban (no smoking in bars/restaurants/cafes).... for many people this will be a huge shock as lots of Parisians spend most days with a cigarette glued to their lips. At the moment you can still smoke in restaurants which is really gross...

Another big change will be for families with school-age kids. Currently, French schoolchildren attend school on Saturday mornings, but not Wednesday afternoons. How crap is that? Imagine being the parents - no sleep-in on Saturdays! And no weekend trips either..... From next year kids will attend school only during the week, and in line with the French's love of holidays, probably Wednesday afternoons will remain free. To compensate for this, school will be from 8:30am until 4:30pm on the other days.

Once again, the French are taking the motto "work to live, not live to work" very seriously!