25 May 2016

Strikes and the local “soil”

The French police are "liberating" refineries and oilstorage depots one by one. Some have been blocked for nearly a week by strikers and demonstrators for a few days now, and gas shortages have become widespread. Six of the country's eight oil refineries are either closed or not operating at full capacity. Now they say that the workers in at least one nuclear power plant in France have voted to go out on strike. Are we going to start having power cuts and brownouts? The labor unions — the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) right now — are upping the ante against the government's new labor legislation.


Meanwhile, I thought I'd give you an idea of what the ground looks like where we live, outside Saint-Aignan and on the edge of an extensive vineyard. It's not soil, actually, but clay and rocks, and it's called perruches in French. Grapes thrive where other crops don't, in such rocky soil. The rocks absorb heat from the sun during the day and release it slowly overnight, moderating the low temperatures and helping grapes grow and ripen. You can click on the images to enlarge them.


Other plants grow in it too, but they have to be hardy. Can you imagine that we have a vegetable garden in this kind of soil? Over the last dozen years I have picked up wheelbarrow loads of rocks and moved them while tilling. I know at least one man who has had truckloads of rich topsoil hauled in to make his garden easier to plant in and care for. We haven't done that. The soil down in the river valley, less than half a mile distant and down the hill, is much sandier, softer, and richer.


The photo above is one I took last Saturday, right before the big storm front passed over us and gave us about 1½ inches of rain. Luckily, we didn't have strong winds or any lightning.


The grapes are really leafing out now, and the landscape is greening up. By the way, if you don't see a new blog post from me some morning over the next week or so, you'll know we've had some kind of power outage. There are still train and metro strikes going on too, so I'm getting worried about my plan to go to Paris in 10 days or so.

24 comments:

  1. I just keep my fingers crossed, but things don't look too bright right now. We can only hope.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remain optimistic, but the situation is not improving... yet.

      Delete
    2. Chm, I hope things will be back to normal by the time you are travelling to Saint-Aignan for your annual holiday in the Loire Valley. It would be such a shame if you were to miss out on it. This time, it's me who's keeping her fingers and toes crossed ;)

      Delete
    3. Thank you, Martine. I still have all of June and all of July to go to Touraine if our plans do not materialize due to strikes or the like.

      Delete
  2. If the terrorist attacks weren't enough to put people off coming to France for their holidays the fuel shortages could do it!
    If we were not already here we would think twice about it. On second thoughts, we wouldn't come - holidays are meant to be enjoyable, not filled with stress about whether or not we can get around or get home.
    We just have to worry about having enough fuel to get my brother back to the airport tomorrow then home again. Like you, we can manage without going anywhere much normally but the threat of electricity cuts takes the thing to a whole new level.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it's not like the French are considering leaving the EU, or something. lol ;)

      Delete
    2. The power plant that has voted to go on strike is up east of Paris on the Seine. I remember when I lived in Paris back in the '70s and early '80s that we had power cuts because of strikes. Often the electricity would go off after breakfast and come back on before dinner. It was pretty inconvenient.

      Delete
  3. When I was in Montpellier in the early sixties the water was shut off in the afternoons. Ten days may be enough time for things to get right again. I hope so.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bonjour Ken et CHM,

    The tactic is to get the govt. to give in before the Euro 2016, which kicks in on June 10th. With the fans of 23 nations in the country , travelling to nine cities, it will be chaos. Not only would the govt. have to worry about security at the stadium , they will have to deal with fans not being able to get to the stadium.

    Watching the long line-up to fill up at some gas stations, we are relieved that we are not visiting France this year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't imagine the experience of tourists who have been planning and saving for their first big trip to France, and then arriving and encountering all of this. I believe in unions, and I'm sure there must be a good reason for this striking, but it sure would ruin an experience of a lifetime for some people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, as you and I know, France is not a theme park. People don't pay to get in the way they do at Disneyland or Epcot, and the main focus is not tourists. Tourism is a source of income here as it is in many countries, but the working people have their own concerns and problems. I have to say I really don't understand what is going on, but then I'm not a working person and I'm not really up on the issues. Sometimes I think the government is trying to push a hard line for electoral purposes — the next presidential election is less than a year away. Anyway, I live a pretty sheltered life, when you come right down to it. So do most tourists, don't you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some tourists more than others ... first time from a country location might have more of an adjustment than say a NYer going to Paris .. I on the other hand ... have enjoyed the cities and the countryside of England and France, although France was too limited for me to even mention.
      Which I think can only mean that I have to make that right ... go back .. visit friends who just moved to live in Provence .. see old pals in Paris .. see new pals in other areas :)

      Delete
    2. I spent 6 months in Provence when I came to France the first time. It was a very different place back then compared to what it has become. I would like to go back one day, but like the Dordogne it has been very gentrified.

      Delete
  7. Nobody has commented on our hardscrabble vegetable gardening efforts...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a New Englander, I applaud your rock-hauling efforts. Where are you going to build the stone wall(s)?
      I heard an interview on the BBC last night, a woman lamenting how difficult it was to get gas for her car and how inconvenient the strikes are. And then she said, "But, of course, I understand and sympathize with them, they must do what they must." And I thought how very wonderful the French are -- in some places, not naming names, people would be screaming imprecations. :-)

      Delete
    2. These episodes of labor disputes are a fact of life here and a part of the culture. Working people have the right to stand up to their employers and demand better working conditions. There are people who complain about the inconvenience, but there are just as many who see the point and are willing to see things through.

      Delete
  8. Well, I for one am amazed at the success of your potager in the midst of such rocky conditions. ;-)

    Of course the irony of the strikes and gas lines is that the price of oil is at historically low levels, back to the prices of the early 90s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diesel fuel was at about 85 eurocents a liter when we got here in 2003, and now it is at about 1.10 euros.

      Delete
  9. Regarding your hardscrabble gardening .. my husband could never get over the fact that I threw some seeds on some soil and rocks in our back garden and I got veggies ... He, the city boy, thought I should have tilled and dug and watered etc. Of course, I should have done more but if seeds are going to grow, they will grow.
    I love those little yellow flowers.
    I have just moved from New York to Florida. Right now I am still adjusting but the glorious weather helps with any adjustments one needs. I like to imagine spending autumn in France or England, to give myself a nice break from so much sunshine :) Although I have to be careful, I tend to move to places that I enjoy visiting !

    ReplyDelete
  10. Re: hardscrabble. I would have taken one look at that "soil" and opted for a garden of flowerpots, and I'm now even more impressed by your successful farm. The bit on why rocky soil is good for vineyards is new to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies



    1. Well, in the spring of 2004 we started digging with shovels and hoes to try to create a garden plot. It was impossible. Later, local people told me you need a pickax to dig in these perruches soils (clay and flintstone). We went out and bought a high-powered rototiller and had more success. But every year, as I till, I pull out and toss or gather in a wheelbarrow a ton of rocks. The soil is like concrete when it really dries out, and it is slick, slippery clay when it is very wet. We probably should have built raised beds and brought in good topsoil when we started, but we weren't that savvy.

      Delete
    2. We've got the clay without the rocks. Tony built three raised beds, using scavenged wood from a neighbor's remodel, that have been serving us well for about 12 years.

      Delete
    3. We built raised beds at that house in Sunnyvale where we lived for a few years in the 1990s. Walt bought wood to build them and many bags of soil to fill the beds. That worked well there too, but our garden was tiny compared to the one here.

      Delete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?