A weekend of indulgent gratification. Thursday: la bienheureuse arrives home, pile à l'heure, despite the ongoing transport strikes. Friday: visit chez madame le medecin for second trimester scan; all elements seemingly present and at correct stage of development; estimated weight, a kickingly healthy 530g. Saturday: lazy day spent doing not very much, apart from figuring out, with limited success, how to connect the computer to our new all-singing, all-dancing goggle box, an expensive whim indulged earlier in the week. Sunday: we make a gesture at getting some exercise with a walk through the park, then I leave la bienheureuse in the kitchen (brussel sprouts soup, flapjack and roast pork - spoilt, moi?) while venturing out to the Wallace to suffer the latest instalment of nurtured football team vs purchased assembly of superstars. Fortunately the suffering is eased by an early bath, and the good guys coast to a gratifying triumph over oil-stained money.
Outside the nest, the social unrest continues on a slightly calmer course. Les vacances de la Toussaint began on Friday, meaning school students are somewhat more dispersed; le Senat has approved the new laws on pensions and retirement, meaning only one more stage before the reforms are pencilled into the statute books (expected on Wednesday when both houses of parliament vote on the new laws together). The unions have softened their stance slightly - rubbish collectors in Marseille voted to suspend their two week strike on public health grounds, three of the twelve refineries have gone back to work, and more than 75% of trains are now running. The protestors are hoping the government will agree to negotiate in the last two weeks before the President definitively promulgates the law. The precedent the unions are pinning their hopes on came in 2006, when a new law on employment reforms for young people was approved by parliament only for similar street protests to cause a government cave-in, and the law was never rubber-stamped. I somehow doubt Sarko will be quite as flexible this time…
26 octobre 2010
21 octobre 2010
Striking success
So far so good. Football trip to London and Cambridge a resounding success. Flights remained uncancelled and six goals cheered to the rafters by the faithful at the home of good football. Which was slightly unusual, given that the score was 5-1. Never before have I seen an opposition goal greeted with such delight. Eduaarrdo!
I found the Cambridge crew in good form, le grand chef and ms beaucoup providing their usual convivial and generous welcome, and professor margarita and the caipirinha kid providing the customary entertainment in the pub on Monday evening.
And so, on a frosty Wednesday morning, I made my way back to strife-torn Lyon. There was a moment when I feared the worst: after everybody was checked through the departure gate at Stansted we stood going nowhere for over twenty minutes and, when we finally did move, it was to get onto a bus rather than the plane. Uh-oh, I thought, flight abruptly cancelled, Lyon ablaze, back to the terminal we go. But no, it was merely to take us round to another plane at another gate. Even the pilot was in the dark about the reason for the last minute change.
So in the end we arrived home less than half an hour late. At the airport it was my chance to sample, for the second time, the new tram link to the city centre, which has replaced the old shuttle bus at a 50% greater cost. Excuse for the higher ticket price is that it's quicker, which is true - 'guaranteed' less than 30 minutes, as opposed to the 35-40 minute bus trip. For me though, the total travel time is longer, because the tram terminus in Lyon is the other side of Part Dieu station, an extra 10 minute walk, and at the airport it's another 10 minute walk. Grumble, grumble.
Part two of a footballing week yesterday evening, and another surprisingly comfortable victory for the home team, made easier by a sending off for les lisboètes, whose large travelling support was comparable to that of a British club even if a large proportion were French residents. That makes it four wins out of four now, with a trip to the new Ligue 1 whipping boys, Arles-Avignon (1 point from 9 games) coming up. Strangely I didn't hear any "Puel, demisssion!" chants last night.
La bienheureuse was also spared any travel chaos in her business odyssey from Lyon to Brussels and back via Vienna and Paris. So far, at least. Final leg by rail this afternoon. And meanwhile we both missed the worst of the fun in central Lyon on Tuesday - burning cars and rubbish bins, running battles with police, shop windows smashed, water cannons and clouds of tear gas in Place Bellecour. Yesterday there were fewer incidents by dint of the authorities flooding the centre with police (including the elite GIPN, usually used for hostage rescue and the like) and closing down public transport in the Presqu'Île. Similar story today, though latest reports describe Place Bellecour as a 'battlefield'. Fuel shortages all over the country, rubbish piling up in the streets of Marseille, school students leading from the front: the protests show no sign of faltering and still retain the backing of the majority of the public, though with the school holidays starting on Saturday, things may soon start to change…
I found the Cambridge crew in good form, le grand chef and ms beaucoup providing their usual convivial and generous welcome, and professor margarita and the caipirinha kid providing the customary entertainment in the pub on Monday evening.
And so, on a frosty Wednesday morning, I made my way back to strife-torn Lyon. There was a moment when I feared the worst: after everybody was checked through the departure gate at Stansted we stood going nowhere for over twenty minutes and, when we finally did move, it was to get onto a bus rather than the plane. Uh-oh, I thought, flight abruptly cancelled, Lyon ablaze, back to the terminal we go. But no, it was merely to take us round to another plane at another gate. Even the pilot was in the dark about the reason for the last minute change.
So in the end we arrived home less than half an hour late. At the airport it was my chance to sample, for the second time, the new tram link to the city centre, which has replaced the old shuttle bus at a 50% greater cost. Excuse for the higher ticket price is that it's quicker, which is true - 'guaranteed' less than 30 minutes, as opposed to the 35-40 minute bus trip. For me though, the total travel time is longer, because the tram terminus in Lyon is the other side of Part Dieu station, an extra 10 minute walk, and at the airport it's another 10 minute walk. Grumble, grumble.
Part two of a footballing week yesterday evening, and another surprisingly comfortable victory for the home team, made easier by a sending off for les lisboètes, whose large travelling support was comparable to that of a British club even if a large proportion were French residents. That makes it four wins out of four now, with a trip to the new Ligue 1 whipping boys, Arles-Avignon (1 point from 9 games) coming up. Strangely I didn't hear any "Puel, demisssion!" chants last night.
La bienheureuse was also spared any travel chaos in her business odyssey from Lyon to Brussels and back via Vienna and Paris. So far, at least. Final leg by rail this afternoon. And meanwhile we both missed the worst of the fun in central Lyon on Tuesday - burning cars and rubbish bins, running battles with police, shop windows smashed, water cannons and clouds of tear gas in Place Bellecour. Yesterday there were fewer incidents by dint of the authorities flooding the centre with police (including the elite GIPN, usually used for hostage rescue and the like) and closing down public transport in the Presqu'Île. Similar story today, though latest reports describe Place Bellecour as a 'battlefield'. Fuel shortages all over the country, rubbish piling up in the streets of Marseille, school students leading from the front: the protests show no sign of faltering and still retain the backing of the majority of the public, though with the school holidays starting on Saturday, things may soon start to change…
18 octobre 2010
Cold comfort
Another Saturday, another day of protest, another Tuesday, another day of strikes. The protests continue to gather momentum. This time round, they may affect us personally. My latest pilgrimage to the holy ground has been brought forward a day because the flight tomorrow was cancelled. Meanwhile la bienheureuse headed off on her last business trip of the year this morning. The trip from Vienna to Brussels via CDG airport is the unknown quantity. Will the flight tomorrow go, and will the train to Brussels the following morning go? Who knows? Certainly not PM François Fillon who was on TV last night insisting that there would be no petrol shortages because of the 'illegal' blockades of petrol refineries and storage depots all over France. Bet the thousands of motorists queuing at petrol stations only to find them dry believed him.
Meanwhile, lyonnais protesters of a different kind were partially mollified yesterday. A concerted campaign has been going on to try and force the resignation of OL coach Claude Puel, including banners all over town. However, signs of an improvement in performances in the last couple of weeks were confirmed, result-wise at least, by the 3-1 win over Lille at Gerland last night. An entertaining game, even if Lille largely dominated possession and the result somewhat flattered the home team. We treated ourselves to a pre-match dinner in Ninkasi, but the early arrival to ensure a table meant we ended up in the perishing cold stadium almost an hour before kickoff. A biting northerly wind blew down our necks the whole three hours. Whatever happened to autumn? From Indian summer to Lyon winter in one fell swoop.
Meanwhile, lyonnais protesters of a different kind were partially mollified yesterday. A concerted campaign has been going on to try and force the resignation of OL coach Claude Puel, including banners all over town. However, signs of an improvement in performances in the last couple of weeks were confirmed, result-wise at least, by the 3-1 win over Lille at Gerland last night. An entertaining game, even if Lille largely dominated possession and the result somewhat flattered the home team. We treated ourselves to a pre-match dinner in Ninkasi, but the early arrival to ensure a table meant we ended up in the perishing cold stadium almost an hour before kickoff. A biting northerly wind blew down our necks the whole three hours. Whatever happened to autumn? From Indian summer to Lyon winter in one fell swoop.
15 octobre 2010
Echoes of '68
The protests continue and attitudes harden. While the railway workers appear to be gradually returning to work, the stoppages and blockades at petrol refineries and storage depots are causing more concern. Panic buying over the last couple of days have meant fuel stocks in some areas are running low, and the government was sufficiently concerned to send in the gendarmes to lift the blockade of several depots around the country this morning. And while they opened, others closed. Strike and counter-strike.
But it is school students who have been making most of the running and headlines over the last couple of days. Boycotts, blockades and demonstrations in 300+ schools yesterday and today; street confrontations with the police, often exacerbated by the presence of other jeunes, there to fight the police rather than the retirement reforms. I witnessed the fringes of the incidents in central Lyon this morning, on the way back from my weekly chores: twenty or thirty CRS in full battle gear marching down the road along the Rhône in the direction of the Hôtel de Ville, closely followed by half a dozen police vans. Apparently the vans were use to block rue de la République to stop a group of students heading in that direction, which of course led to some predictable stone throwing, bin burning, even one car being overturned, 20 odd arrests. As I crossed the river there were plenty of small groups of lads heading in the opposite direction, like moths to a flame…
But it is school students who have been making most of the running and headlines over the last couple of days. Boycotts, blockades and demonstrations in 300+ schools yesterday and today; street confrontations with the police, often exacerbated by the presence of other jeunes, there to fight the police rather than the retirement reforms. I witnessed the fringes of the incidents in central Lyon this morning, on the way back from my weekly chores: twenty or thirty CRS in full battle gear marching down the road along the Rhône in the direction of the Hôtel de Ville, closely followed by half a dozen police vans. Apparently the vans were use to block rue de la République to stop a group of students heading in that direction, which of course led to some predictable stone throwing, bin burning, even one car being overturned, 20 odd arrests. As I crossed the river there were plenty of small groups of lads heading in the opposite direction, like moths to a flame…
13 octobre 2010
Guillotine motion
Yesterday evening the event that we look forward to with great anticipation every year took place chez nous. Spot two false statements in the previous sentence, the second of which is that it takes place every year. I'm referring to the Assemblée Générale, the annual meeting of apartment owners in our building. Annual in theory - the last one took place nearly two years ago, which is a demonstration of the competence of our syndic, the property management company that is supposed to handle our building. Further proof of incompetence came with initial notice of the meeting lacking several agenda items and specifying a date, time & place (their offices) that suited no-one. Then the corrected agenda had the wrong date, and finally the corrected date specified the general whereabouts (our building) but not exactly which apartment. The latter mystery was resolved the evening before when our upstairs neighbour knocked on the door and asked if we could host it. Cue a two hour frenzy of belated spring cleaning and tidying up yesterday afternoon.
The meeting itself was lively, inconclusive, but productive in the loosest sense of the term. The particular employee charged with dealing with our troublesome building has changed recently, and the new boy was singularly under-prepared and ill-equipped for the haranguing and browbeating he was subjected to for two hours. Apart from approving the accounts of the last two years, which were wrong because an extra 500 euros had some how crept into insurance costs (did I say the syndic was incompetent?) the agenda for the meeting proper was zipped through remarkably quickly and efficiently, mainly by dint of leaving the most contentious issue till last:
Item 10 - changement de syndic: a choice between reappointing the current syndic or choosing one of two alternative management companies; the stick with which the poor chap was whipped into line. He was given one last chance: a month to take action on various contentious issues, or he and his company are out the door. He had no choice but to agree and left looking like a man going to the guillotine. Perhaps he'll spend the next month looking for a new job.
In the world beyond our happy little apartment building, yesterday the demonstrations against the new retirement and pension reforms were the largest yet. Two differences from the previous three journées d'action: the laws against which everybody was protesting are well on their way into the statue book (pushed through parliament over the previous couple of days, just the Senat rubber stamp to go), and some of the strikes have carried on longer than 24 hours. In particular on the railways, in the ports and at petrol refineries. Corsica ran out of diesel last week due to an ongoing blockade of the main port in Marseille, and the region round Nantes is running low on fuel because of a separate strike in the petrol refinery there.
And finally, as the Chilean miners emerge one by one from a hole in the ground, in the Ardèche the rescue of another man trapped underground ended tragically on Monday. The body of the cave diver missing for over a week was found by two British divers when they search the underground river one last time. RIP.
The meeting itself was lively, inconclusive, but productive in the loosest sense of the term. The particular employee charged with dealing with our troublesome building has changed recently, and the new boy was singularly under-prepared and ill-equipped for the haranguing and browbeating he was subjected to for two hours. Apart from approving the accounts of the last two years, which were wrong because an extra 500 euros had some how crept into insurance costs (did I say the syndic was incompetent?) the agenda for the meeting proper was zipped through remarkably quickly and efficiently, mainly by dint of leaving the most contentious issue till last:
Item 10 - changement de syndic: a choice between reappointing the current syndic or choosing one of two alternative management companies; the stick with which the poor chap was whipped into line. He was given one last chance: a month to take action on various contentious issues, or he and his company are out the door. He had no choice but to agree and left looking like a man going to the guillotine. Perhaps he'll spend the next month looking for a new job.
In the world beyond our happy little apartment building, yesterday the demonstrations against the new retirement and pension reforms were the largest yet. Two differences from the previous three journées d'action: the laws against which everybody was protesting are well on their way into the statue book (pushed through parliament over the previous couple of days, just the Senat rubber stamp to go), and some of the strikes have carried on longer than 24 hours. In particular on the railways, in the ports and at petrol refineries. Corsica ran out of diesel last week due to an ongoing blockade of the main port in Marseille, and the region round Nantes is running low on fuel because of a separate strike in the petrol refinery there.
And finally, as the Chilean miners emerge one by one from a hole in the ground, in the Ardèche the rescue of another man trapped underground ended tragically on Monday. The body of the cave diver missing for over a week was found by two British divers when they search the underground river one last time. RIP.
11 octobre 2010
Weather eye
Lyon has enjoyed a week warmed by a brief été indien: temperatures in the mid-twenties and lovely sunshine (two days of cloud and rain apart). It's been a quiet week for me, less so for la bienheureuse at work. Plus ça change. On the family front, 21 weeks and still counting, tout va bien. Saturday we took advantage of the weather with a stroll along the river and back via the largest pedestrianised square in Europe, where there were displays linked to 'la semaine de la securité', mostly road safety with rolling car simulators and the like. Sunday was less sunny but we went for a walk in the park where the leaves are starting to turn and the dahlias in the botanical gardens are in full bloom.
Newspaper headlines over the past few days have been dominated by a mixture of stories: on the football field, the resurgence of les nouveaux Bleus, seemingly confirmed by two goals in the final few minutes against Roumania; on the political stage, the fifth nationwide demonstration against retirement reforms, backed by almost 70% of the French population, begins tomorrow with transport strikes ominously scheduled to continue indefinitely; and the human drama of the cave diver trapped by a rock fall in an underground river in the Ardèche for over a week. Rescue workers think & hope he's still alive but final confirmation and rescue remain elusive.
04 octobre 2010
Post-holiday blues
It's been a fairly gentle descent from holiday highs to the mundanities of everyday life. La bienheureuse had a further couple of days off at home before coming back down to earth and work with a bump (annual budget to finalise by the end of the week) while I twiddled and fiddled, spending much longer than necessary sorting through thousands of holiday photos. Lyon was in the grip of autumnal weather last week, which suddenly turned into an all-too-brief Indian summer over the weekend. Bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-twenties meant the shorts were given a reprieve.
Not that we did a lot to take advantage of the lovely weather, apart from a stroll around town and a drink on the banks of the Saône on Saturday afternoon. The sky was blue enough to tempt me up to Fourvière, where it was one of those rare days when Mont Blanc was visible 160km distant. Also visible was the demonstration in Place Bellecour, the climax of the 3rd day of action against the pension reforms in France. Not sure why it was fixed for a Saturday - perhaps less disruption by the strikes was balanced by higher turnout on the marches.
Sunday was rather less noteworthy. It was even warmer but the only sortie of the day was to the Wallace for another bad case of déjà-vu, watching the blue brutes mug the red and white heroes to steal an undeserved victory. Sigh. And today it's pouring with rain.
Sunday was rather less noteworthy. It was even warmer but the only sortie of the day was to the Wallace for another bad case of déjà-vu, watching the blue brutes mug the red and white heroes to steal an undeserved victory. Sigh. And today it's pouring with rain.
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