Floods, Strikes and Other Things

We went to look at the Seine last week (along with the rest of the city) and saw that it was indeed flooded.

Normally you can see this guy's feet.

...and this is supposed to be a sidewalk.

I had seen on the news earlier in the week that the garbage collectors were now among the many groups of workers on strike here in Paris. I found this strange as our garbage had been collected as usual. Maybe it's in a different part of town, or maybe there are different groups of sanitation workers like in Seattle? Satisfied with my assumption, I went about my business. By Friday I started seeing the garbage piled up next to the trees on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. Matt saw a notice posted in our apartment building asking everyone to refrain from filling up the garbage and recycling bins. But what are we supposed to do with our garbage?! Turns out it wasn't a problem. Later on that same evening a big truck pulled up next to the sidewalk out front and took away every pile of garbage. A few blocks in each direction and folks weren't so lucky. All of this goes to show that we have no idea what the hell is going on.

I wonder if they only strike when the weather is warm to enhance the smell?

As far as all of the protests and demonstrations are concerned, I avoid hanging out in the part of town where they are taking place. At my age it is no longer cool to be tear gassed.

We have not been immune to drama though, as there was a recent raid on Google's Paris office by French police. Matt was pretty unaware of the whole thing until he unknowingly asked a detective if he had the proper Google badge necessary to enter the building. Apparently it was a bit embarrassing. All in all the raid sounded very polite, despite the fact that all the cops showed up donning bullet-proof vests and machine guns. You never know with those engineering types....

As for me personally, I deal with protest, drama and civil disobedience every day no matter where we are living:

I won't come out unless you meet my demands!