15 December 2019

Strikes and leaks

Here's what the Paris newspaper Le Parisien says in its section about what to expect this weekend because of the current strikes: on Sunday, « Seules le deux lignes automatiques du métro (1 et 14) circuleront dimanche. Toutes les autres lignes seront fermées. » In English, "Only the two automated metro lines (#1 and #14) will be running. All the other metro lines — 12 or 15 of them — will be closed down." The #1 line runs east-west across the middle of the city, and the #14 runs from the northwest (Gare St-Lazare) to the southeast (Gare de Lyon and on toward the Place d'Italie). Both these "automatic" lines run without drivers, so they are not affected by the subway drivers' strike.

A Paris metro station on a quiet Sunday morning

Subway service has always run on a reduced schedule on Sundays, but I can't ever remember the metro being shut down to this extent, and I've been in France off and on for 50 years now. The "regional express"  train line that runs north-south through the city and out to CDG airport will be open, but with only one-third of the normally scheduled trains. Expect all the rail cars to be jammed with people.

A demonstration by striking workers and students in the city of Rouen in June 2003

This turn of phrase I read in Le Parisien, a Paris newspaper, makes me smile: La RATP « invite ses voyageurs à utiliser le réseau de surface », soit les bus et tramways. The RATP is the agency that runs the subways and buses. Aren't they helpful to "invite" their transit users to take the bus instead of attempting to travel by subway? « Le réseau de bus circulera avec un service assuré à 60 % tandis que le service tramway sera quasi-normal. » Sixty percent (the article says 50 percent a little further down) of the buses will be in service today, and the tramway service will be pretty much normal.

The house as it looked the first time we saw it, in mid-December 2002
The weather is lousy, so I say just stay home if you can. Rain, rain, and more rain. Here's the result: our roof is leaking. Water is dripping down onto our steep wooden staircase — the one I slipped and fell on a few weeks ago, spraining my big toe. So Merry Christmas! Now we have to find somebody to come and repair the roof this week. I think the leak is coming from the seal around a chimney conduit that no longer serves any purpose at all. We had it capped years ago, when we had a new boiler installed. At least we think it was capped. I certainly haven't been up there to check on it, since it's maybe 30 feet above ground level, and my ladder climbing days are are just barely visible in the rear-view mirror at this point...

15 comments:

  1. I thought all your roof leaks had been fixed. Clearly not.

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    1. It must be nice to live in an apartment in a high-rise building where the kinds of roof problems we've had over the years are not an issue. When we lived in San Francisco, we had roof problems and leaks in at least three different places we lived in — two apartments and one house. Such problems are never-ending in locations where hard, sudden rains only fall infrequently.

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  2. SÉGUR is one of the three métro stations that are close to my place in Paris, on three different lines. Even when the traffic is normal there aren't too many people to be seen there!
    As Ken says, I don't recall having seen a complete métro shut down, except, of course, during the occupation because of power shortages, but probably not to that extent.

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    1. I imagine the Ségur station gets more traffic and crowds in morning and evening rush hours than at other times of the day. I've seen it with quite a few people along the quais but I've never really crowded the way other stations can be.

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  3. I hope you can get someone to come for the roof promptly. But I bet it takes multiple phone calls. Bon courage.

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    1. There seem to be 6 or 8 couvreurs (roofers) in and around Saint-Aignan, one of whom has done work for us before. We are optimistic.

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  4. Man bites dog. Re the strikes. Sorry about the roof. During your incarceration may I suggest watching "Please Like Me," a wonderful Australian series.

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    1. We've been watching "Please Like Me" for a few days now. Thanks for the recommendation the other day.

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  5. we have had leaks via chimney flashing and also vent pipes from bathrooms....ugh.....sympathies

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  6. Oh, heavens! Good luck with that leak. Yuck.

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  7. Good luck for a quick roof fix. As for the strike...what a hassle for the people who really need it.

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  8. Sorry to hear about the roof problems. Hope you'll be able to have it fixed before Christmas! Fingers crossed.

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  9. Good luck with the roof and thanks for the tip on Please Like Me.

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  10. You need some good news! I hope your roof is repaired completely and quickly and not too expensively. I hope the strikes will be over soon.

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