(he presented me with a rabbit)
= he stood me up/he didn't show up
He left me hanging...
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Monday, September 6
French Phrase for the day
(he presented me with a rabbit)
= he stood me up/he didn't show up
He left me hanging...
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France goes on strike on 7 September - again...
Little boys don't grow up. They only grow old...I read the news and I wonder, once again, when the world is going to realise that there are much more mature and responsible ways to get what you want than suicide bombs, acts of terrorism, wars -- and yes -- strikes.
Having said that, I should probably be writing about the options of conflict resolution, mediation, round table discussions, but, alas! looking at the players in the field, I am tempted to say: There is little hope of any of these people being able to hold one single mature conversation that will end in a resolution, so it is rather a case of when in Greece do as the Greeks do and perhaps it is time for the women of the world to stand together and do a Lysistrata on the menfolk -- until such time as they stop strutting around and start growing up.
(Lysistrata, a classic play written in 411 BC by Aristophanes, is about the time in Greek history when the city-states were constantly warring with one another. Consequently, the women were left at home. One woman, Lysistrata, was so fed up with the fighting that she called all of the women of Greece, from Sparta and Thebes to a meeting. Lysistrata asks the women to refuse sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed. Lysistrata convinces them to swear an oath that they will withhold sex from their husbands until both sides sign a treaty of peace, convincing the women that this was the only way to bring peace to the land and finally put an end to the Peloponnesian War).
In South Africa, A nationwide strike of government workers – some 1.3 million of them – threatened to bring South Africa’s government to a virtual halt these last two weeks.
The number of working days lost from strikes keep on rising -- and what with power cuts - and the two-month World Cup party, they add up to a couple of million a year. And while children are staying ast home because there are no teachers at the school, and hospitals are at a loss without their nursing staff, the president continues to father more children...In France, tomorrow sees the start of a massive strike action countrywide.
Two million people are expected to take part in demonstrations around France tomorrow, as a big national day of strike action against pension reforms hits schools (62% of teachers will strike), transport and other public services. Many primary schools will be closed. Collèges and lycées will offer a minimum level of service and few lessons, if any. Tomorrow’s strike will also affect courts, Pôle Emploi job centres, post offices and energy supplier EDF. There will be protests outside hospitals, and paramedics’ union Amuf says a minimum level of service will be in place for 24 hours.The unions are protesting against the government’s plan to raise the state pension age from 60 to 62 by 2018. According to an Ifop poll for Ouest France, 70 per cent of the French public support the day of action.
TRAINS
SNCF workers are due to begin their strike at 20.00 tonight and it is expected to run until 8.00 on Wednesday morning.
Transilien (in Ile-de-France): 41 per cent of peak-time trains are running.
RER: Between 35 per cent and 60 per cent of services operating normally on lines C, D and E. Half of trains are running on RER A, but hardly any at all on RER B.
Paris metro: Normal service on automated lines 11 and 14. Between a third and two thirds of trains running on the other lines, except line 10, where just one train in four will run. A near-normal service is expected on buses and trams.
TER: Nationally, about half of local TER services will be running, but the percentage will vary from one region to the next. See http://www.ter-sncf.com for your region’s provisional timetable.TGV: 40 per cent of trains into and out of Paris will operate, 50 per cent on the north and east mainlines, but only 20 per cent of province-province trains (bypassing Paris) are scheduled to run.
International trains: Eurostar will run a normal service, and Thalys is operating 80 per cent of trains. Ellipsos (to Spain) and Artesia (to Italy) services are cancelled.
Corail: Only 25 per cent of daytime Téoz services are running, and no Lunea night trains at all.
Passengers with a reservation on a mainline TGV or Corail train will be able to travel on any service without modifying their booking, but a seat is not guaranteed.
The SNCF will allow travellers to cancel their ticket at no cost, regardless of the conditions attached to the ticket.
FLIGHTS
Air France expects to run 90 per cent of flights as scheduled from Paris Charles de Gaulle, but only 50 per cent from Orly.
Air traffic controllers have also announced plans to take part in the strike, which means cancellations and delays are likely on other airlines. Further details should be available later today. Check before you fly.
USEFUL LINKS
SNCF: or 0805 90 36 35
Local TER services:
Mainline services:
Live station departure boards:
Transilien trains in Paris:
RATP (Paris public transport): or 0800 15 11 11
Air France:
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Sunday, September 5
France's First Lady in the limelight again (or is that the 'red light'?)
Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday criticised an Iranian hardline media outlet for calling French first lady Carla Bruni a "prostitute" after she expressed support for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Agence France Presse reports that Iran's foreign ministry criticised the media this week for branding the French first lady, Carla Bruni, as "prostitute" after she expressed support for a woman sentenced to death by stoning.The Iranian ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, told reporters that insulting officials of other countries and using indecent words is not endorsed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. "We don't think using indecent and insulting words is a right move," he said when asked to comment on Iranian media reports that described Bruni as an "immoral" woman and a "prostitute."
"I hope the media will pay attention. The media can criticise the hostile policies of other countries, but by refraining from using insulting words. This is not correct."
About time. The western press dare print a cartoon depicting the Prophet, but the Muslim media can slander and slay whomever they please however they please. Is this a backlash perhaps for Sarkozy banning the burqa in public places in France? Or is it perhaps getting back at France for having the courage to speak out against this abomination of public stoning of a young pregnant woman - who is now also going to receive 99 lashes for having had a photograph taken of herself without the full veil?Last week, Iran's hardline daily Kayhan ran a story headlined "French prostitutes enter the human rights uproar," in which it criticised Bruni and French actress Isabelle Adjani for supporting Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, the 43-year-old Iranian mother of two, who has been sentenced to death by stoning. The case has been dragged to court previously by many Iranians, including Nobel peace winner Shirin Ebadi and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a top aide of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Kayhan wrote: "Bruni, the singer and depraved actress who managed to break the Sarkozy family and marry the French president and who is said to have an affair with a singer, has said in Sakineh Mohammadi's defence that the verdict is unfair." Kayhan, whose managing director and chief editor is appointed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is known for harshly insulting Iranian and foreign figures.
Sticks and stones may break the beautiful Sakineh Mohammadi 's bones, but being called a prostitute will not harm us, you dirty old men.
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Saturday, September 4
Earthquake in Christchurch: Our thoughts are with you!
To all our readers and friends in New Zealand -- our thoughts are with you!
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck New Zealand's South Island at 4:35am this morning. The quake, which hit 19 miles west of the southern city of Christchurch, shook a wide area with radio reports saying items were tossed from store shelves and roof tiles cracked by the strong tremble. A state of emergency has been declared in Christchurch.According to the news reports, the earthquake was 21 miles below the Earth's surface. New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year - but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage. New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year - but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.
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Friday, September 3
Medieval Festivals in the Dordogne
For a South African living in Europe, (or is it for everyone else as well?) there is something magic about the village being turned into a scene from the Middle Ages - when, for a day, you are transported back into Medieval times. Bales of straw appear to cover the cobblestone streets, banners and flags and pennants are hung from balconies, cars disappear and horses are tethered to the heavy iron rings next to front doors - that were put there hundreds of years ago for exactly that purpose.
Men and women on stilts wander through the narrow streets, jugglers perform their antics for laughing children, fire eaters mesmerise with their dangerous skills, flower sellers call out as do the the bakers with his warm rolls and the rags and bones man with his cart of rattling wares as he trundles down the street. Over there is a woman sitting in the shade of a chestnut tree making a gossamer scrap of lace in the same way her great-great grandmother did it 200 years ago, and there, next to water pump, is a man bent over his carving of a waking stick with an elaborate deer head for the handle.
I hear drums and tambourines and aeolin pipes and go look for the source of the music. It is troupe from northern Siberia, dressed in layers of earth coloured fabric, bearded, woolly and wild-eyed, calling the crowds to come listen to their hauntingly beautiful music -- as if straight from the Siberian steppes and carried along by the frozen winds across the continent - and yet, eerily similar to the sounds of the local traditional Perigordine celtic music I have come to know and love so well.
A young boy takes the opportunity to demonstrate his skill with balancing sticks on the edge of the crowd and over there I notice a young woman bent over boiling cauldrons as she dyes her fabrics and home spun wool with beetroot and walnut leaves. On the other side of the crowd are two soldiers - their bulky bodies dressed in leather and chainmail, their metal helmets glinting in the sun - as they wait for the blacksmith to finish sharpening their heavy iron swords...
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