This is a belated post, but I have to mention the crazy metro and train strikes of late last year. I've seen some a lot of French striking in the past 8 months but this one was by far the most impressive. Both SNCF (transport railroad network) and RATP (major operator for transportation in Paris) had shutdown a majority of their services, and in doing so crippled public transport all over France. Paris was the worst hit as almost everyone here depends on some form of rail transport to travel to and from work. The traffic was horrible, buses were packed like sardine cans, and there were people everywhere - Paris felt like a human beehive. It was absolute chaos and I loved every minute of it!

Travaillez plus pour gagner plus

The dispute between the two rail companies and the government was over the new laws increasing the retirement age of staff to from 55 to 65 (if I remember correctly) and slightly decreasing their pension. It's a part of president Sarkosy's "work more to earn more" philosophy. He obviously feels that the public sector is slacking off a bit and he may have a point. Ask anyone in the private sector and they would agree that it is a fair change - they of course work longer hours and do not retire at 55. There is a bit of public sector vs. private sector rivalry going on here. The people working in the public domain are usually old school types who would prefer to earn less to work less, whereas the professionals working for private enterprise just think that all public servants are lazy bastards (especially those who work for the post).

It is not only the transport sector that is feeling the pinch from the government. Most public services have also been hit with cutbacks. But it is only the rail companies that can cause this amount of damage. While teachers and students can take to the streets without affecting the lives of too many people, these train strikes left people stranded at home, forced others to spend some 4 hours walking to and from work, and caused companies to lose a lot of money.

Luckily, I wasn't too affected by all of this chaos. My office moved into central Paris a few months beforehand, so at the very worst I could get into work by foot in around 45 minutes. I rode into work on several occasions using the public bike system (Vélib); that was great fun, dodging cars and pedestrians on the way into work - very Parisian indeed. I simply loved the whole experience. For me this was real travel, experiencing another culture from the first person perspective. Most of my friends thought that I was a bit mad for being so enthralled by it all, but this was not their first rail strike. For them, the novelty had worn off a long time ago.