Everyone who actually took a subway or a train in Paris on a strike day know what it is. For the others, you just need to know that for the French people, strike has always been and still remains the best weapon to protect their advantages. So, it has been a week since the train drivers started a strike to defend their special retirement plan, that the Sarkozy government aims to suppress. But why do they have to go on strike? I'd say laziness : "Work more to earn more" was Sarkozy's motto during the campaign, but French people would rather say "Work less to earn more". You know, lots of people in France have a very lazy conception of what does the verb "to work" mean.

So, how does a strike look like ? Well, this is an example of a Paris metro platform on a strike day :

I'm sure you're wondering what the consequences are. So, to be quick, there are the main features of a typicial French strike :

• Less than 50% of the trains are working
• Hours of waiting on the platforms
• On some lines, no trains at all, or 1 train per hour
• Tons on people, some compressed against the windows
• 200 km of traffic jams near Paris from 6am to 10am, and from 4pm to 7 pm
• Lots of people obliged to stay at home (so at the same time, they're waisting their holidays)
• +70% accidents in Paris (cars, bikes etc)
• Walking under the rain to grab a bus or a train

Just to give you a little example, I took 3 and a half hour to go to Paris by car, while it only takes me 45 minutes usually...

And that's not finished yet. Today, a new wave of strikes started, including :

• Teachers
• Hospital staff
• Postmen
• Firemen
• Airport staff
• Customs officers
• Public TV staff
• EDF and GDF staff
• France Telecom etc

Moreover, college students have been blocking universities because they reject a new law about their privatization. Nearly 70,000 people marched in the streets of Paris this afternoon (causing, of course, enormous traffic jams in the city).

These two weeks have been a mess to go to school, and it's not ready to stop. Negociations are starting tomorrow afternoon, but as we are in France, no agreement is going to be found, and the strike is going to continue...maybe until Christmas? Why not, after all? Oh but I forgot, when you go on strike, you're not paid, so maybe this point will make them stop complaining, because there are really lots of jobs that are far more difficult than driving a nearly automated train.

So, that is why, I love France !

PS : There's no need to add that the only 100% working subway line is the only one that is 100% automated ^^ (aaaah, technology is wonderful! I really love line 14's Meteor)