Post-Vacation Trauma
I deplore the Paris scene beginning of September; the season during which a detestable and constant questioning takes place from the French: “So, how was your vacation??” To which I respond with obvious hostility: “What vacation?” To which they reply back suspiciously and with a certain disdain: “That’s why you look sooo pale, are you going on vacation soon? You know vacations are mandatory!?”
Excuse-me !!?? What are these people talking about? Since when labor regulations impose mandatory breaks during the summer season? I’m not a college-kid or a boring “commute-work-sleep” kind of person. Neither am I a lazy 9 to 5 lifestyle aficionado. I strive for performance; I strive for the growth of the GNP in this lazy socialist country. Somebody got to work, you know?
Why do people, especially women of a certain age, who have just come back from their much undeserved vacation need to expose their suntan and, in passing, their no-so attractive nudity in the middle of the Paris avenues? Why on earth do they have to wear bikini like, flashy outfits in the middle of a polluted city as if they were in ostentatious Saint-Tropez or iconoclastic South Beach? A little bit of decency for those who have worked in August would be, much appreciated. . .Labels: Parisian life, Professional hardship
Football, the French Version
Tonight 8.00 p.m. is the kick-off of the Arsenal v. Barcelona Champions League Final. Not that I know anything about it, not that I care ... but just wanted to complain that enough is enough, all those slobby men in yellow acrylic T-shirts bearing the logo of their favorite team, marching and singing like barbaric demonstrators, beer in hand. Well, at least I won't have to queue for the treadmill at the deserted gym tonight.Labels: Parisian life
Morning Aggression
I like the smell of coffee in the morning, the smell of shampoo and the smell of soap. I like to be surrounded by morning commuters who are fresh and clean having taken a shower from head to toe.
But Paris smells in the morning of unwashed hair, unclean armpit, unbrushed morning breath. Every morning at 9.30 a.m, I know that the cleaning guy in my buidling is doing his shift because he leaves his strong odor of sweat in the elevator. I have to stop breathing at the risk of being nauseous. In the Tokyo subway, there are women-only cars during morning rush-hours to protect women from male molesters. I think Paris should create smell-free cars to preserve me from morning olfactory aggression... That's the least the Paris metro authority can do for a EUR 1.2 subway ride.Labels: Parisian life
Vive la France !
France is burning...
After the riots in the Suburbs, 2 million French are at the barricades, protesting against the new labor law (CPE law: "contrat premiere embauche," first employment contract law), which allows employers to lay-off young employees without cause or worker's compensation during their first year on the job. Protesters are requesting the withdrawal of the law, which by the way has already been voted by both Chambers of the Parliament and approved as constitutional by the Conseil Constitutionnel (i.e., Supreme Court for law enactments), hence effective and enforceable. But demonstrators are still at the barricades. I was watching the news yesterday and there was this young guy who was in support of the withdrawal of the law (and, in passing, the government) because the law supposedly make young employees live in insecurity. A young student said that she was reluctant to look for a job because she was afraid that under the new law she might get sacked without cause and compensation. She argued that worker's compensation was the incentive for them employees to accept a job. What the .... ??? Lady, you won't get laid-off if you are a hard-working competent employee, which I am sure you are. No wonder why France is a sinking ship... Nicolas Sarkozy the French Interior Minister said something so true: "There is only one way to reduce unemployment in France. You have to explain to the French people that they have to work harder."* France is a Countess who still believes in the legacy of her glorious past... Dear Countess, have you ever heard of the 1789 Bastille revolution?------------Footnote: quotation from NY Times, March 28, 2006.Labels: Parisian life
First Post, First Blog, Time Zone
Welcome to my Blog, welcome to my First Blog...
The posted time will show 7:00 AM but in real life, my day is almost -well hopefully- over. I'm at +1 GMT, but my laptop is still on EST (NY Time)...after 6 months back in Europe haven't managed to change the time zone on my laptop yet, okay okay I know this is Paris not New York, (as my friend AMJ loved to say: "This is America not ##&%@# Europe" or as Xristos likes to whine: "awwwe this is Neeew York, not laaaame Paris" under NY Time Zone) on top of it all, with my mom calling me at 3 AM in the middle of the night (+9 GMT my mother's time zone) No wonder I'm becoming schizophrenic. Time for a large coffee with milk, no sugar. Not espresso.Labels: Parisian life, Simply coffee
