the French

Today (this was after the coffee and presidential candidates and friendly drivers) on my way to the laundrette I was stopped by a huge manifest. This obviously is no surprise as everybody knows that strikes and manifestations are the French national sport. Any reason or a lack of reason is a good enough reason to go on strike. Yet, there seems to be a strong correlation between the weather and the number of manifestations.

During my time in Paris I have noticed a peculiar phenomenon – when there is sun there are also manifests and when it is cold and raining, nobody bothers with banderols, except the homeless but they have nothing to lose as it is. This then makes perfect sense. Why bother roaming on the streets when you are bound to get cold and wet and in the worse case ill when you can wait until spring and march in the sun?

My theory is that during the cold, dark winter months the French keep themselves warm by drinking red wine and talking about politicks in smoky bars and brasseries. By the time the weather is starting to warm up, they have collected a long list of things to complain about. With all the energy from the numerous bottles of wine emptied they make it to the streets. It, then, takes until August until all the numerous problems of the French society have been brought to the knowledge of the higher levels of authority. In August it is time for holiday. The whole society basically stands still for several weeks, and the only life to be seen on the streets of Paris are few lonely tourist. By the time the holidays are over and it is time to get back to school and work, the weather is changing again….

So today, I was stopped by a huge manifest. And I suppose this was only the beginning…