And the strike goes on

Read this post from my friend Harriet: http://harrietweltyrochefort.com/wordpress/?p=946
I don't think I could say it better.
I feel very housebound. I'm retired, so I don't have the real problems of the working population. My children do, though. My son has been working from home as much as possible and has had to drive to the office on the few days when he had to go in for meetings. My daughter has had better luck. She lives along one of the two automated métro lines and that gets her fairly close to work. However, work is on Montmartre, so it's an uphill walk. She's been able to hitch a ride when necessary. People are very nice in that way.
We've had to go to Paris on two evenings but it wasn't too difficult. During rush hours, it's horrendous. We are lucky. One of the two bus lines that will take us to Vincennes is functioning and line 1 from Vincennes is the other of the two automated lines. As long as our destination is not far from line 1 or line 14 station, we are able to go. For our first venture into town, we took the bus to Vincennes. Since we are close to the end of the line, there were two buses, back to back, and the second was not too crowded; there were seats. The métro was crowded, but not too crowded since we got on at the first station. We were wondering if the Bastille station would be open since that day's demonstration went from République to Nation via Bastille. At Nation, the métro became very crowded and more so at the Gare de Lyon. We got off at Bastille and some of the exits were closed off but not the one we wanted to use.

Our destination? A jazz concert in a passageway off the Rue de Lappe featuring Joe Makholm at the piano. I've known Joe for years but had never seen or heard him perform. I knew him from his days as a baseball umpire when his son played. It was a long time ago and I kept seeing his name come up on FaceBook in posts by mutual friends. Our circle of mutual friends ranges from all over. It was not surprising to find a few at the concert. Monique Wells, from the American Library, where she gave a talk and arrived early while I was working at the circulation desk. Owen Franken, whom I had never met, but had had several email exchanges with and with whom I shared 16 or 17 friends on FaceBook. So, we finally met in person. Bernadette Martin, whom I hadn't seen in many years since an AARO lunch, but I wonder if I hadn't seen her at an International Business Communicators meeting even before that lunch. Others were not able to come because of the strike -- buses not running or too crowded to get on. The concert was excellent but we left at 10:30, before the end, because we needed time to get home. Although the métro, line 1, was running, our bus line had stopped. Rather than try to find a taxi in Vincennes, we took a taxi from Bastille.
I then had to go to Paris for a mid-day meeting. Getting into Paris was not difficult. It was not rush hour. The meeting went well and I left before it was over because I felt I needed 2 hours to get to my physiotherapist appointment. The métro was crowded to Vincennes but I got to sit after a few stops. However, once in Vincennes, the mob waiting for the bus that goes to Nogent was, to be nice, undisciplined. I finally got on the 4th bus, having waited almost 45 minutes. I did not have time to walk several kilometers to the appointment, so it was the bus or forget the appointment. I got there just in time. My 2-hour calculation was perfect, when, normally, it would have taken less than one.

On Friday evening, we met the rest of the Parisian family to go to the light show, Océans en voie d'illumination, at the Jardin des Plantes. We decided to drive to Vincennes and see if we could get a parking spot, which we were lucky enough to find. The parking garage had 6 spots free when we entered. A few minutes later, it would have been full. That meant we got the métro earlier than we had anticipated. The walk from the Gare de Lyon is not too long and we arrived at the Jardin des Plantes a full hour early.
Anne joined us and, together, we waited for the others. The walk through the illuminations took us from the tropics (and the kids remembered seeing the real marine animals last year in Florida) to end in the polar regions. It was a chilly walk, but it wasn't raining, so comfortable enough. From the exit, we walked to Jussieu, to Le Buisson Ardent, the restaurant where we had reserved for Paul's birthday. Expensive, yes, but I think we all enjoyed our meals. The kids' meals were smaller portions of an adult meal and they cleaned their plates. I had the perfectly prepared calf liver. The walk back to the Gare de Lyon seemed so much longer, though, and I was happy to have the car waiting at Vincennes to take us straight home.
So, we've managed, but it's not fun and I would like to go into the city a bit more. Just this last Friday, I was supposed to meet Anne to go to an exhibit. Again - bus + métro 1 + tram. But she got to the tram before I even left home and announced that the tram was not operating, although it had been on Thursday. So, no, she went home and I stayed home. I would like to see my friend S, but she's near the Gare du Nord and that is too far for me to walk from lines 1 or 14.