An American in Provence

Today I was at the gym, eating lunch before it was time for the cardio class (there is a mess waiting to happen). I asked the instructor, a tall blond woman, a question about the class, and she heard that I am NOT FRENCH!! AHHH!!





This isn't even a rant for me, it is just DAILY LIFE.

As this is an election year here in France, today was the primary election. There are 12 candidates, and today it will be narrowed down to 2. The final vote will be in two weeks, on May 6th.

Yes, gentle readers, it is that time again. Time for my monthly rant. Only this time, not about La Poste. I think that a) there is nothing left to say (that hasn't already been said) about how bad it is and b) I haven’t been subjected (knock on wood) to it lately.
No, my new topic is the SNCF. Yep, the trains. They decided to strike, again. Heaven knows why. All they will say is “Due to a social movement by a certain number of our employees...”I feel like going up to the desk and saying “Please! Explain to me what your problem is. Then I can maybe understand why it has become my problem for the past two months!” So I have been taking the bus from Marseille to Toulon, which takes a good 50 minutes. So glad I bought the monthly train subscription! I really feel they should be paying me back for this. So I have to walk to the bus stop, which takes a good, 10-15 minutes I would say. I could take a bus, and then switch, but they never come on time. So I wait about five minutes past the time they say that they are going to come, start walking, and have it wizz by me several minutes later. In defiance, when I take the train to go home in the evenings, I sit in first class. It is my own personal recompense. It is not like the difference between first and economy from New York to Paris. This is slightly better seats and less grafitti. I dare any SNCF ticket collector to come along, check my ticket, and try to fine me for sitting in first when I haven’t paid for it. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Oh no. Hell hath no fury like a megan forced to put up with an entire country on strike for two months.
Alain thinks it is because of the elections coming up. Certain public sectors want to show that they are important and need to be dealt with by the new government, so they do this by making the Ordinary Citizen’s life miserable until the OC complains to the government, demanding that something be done. Hey, to make things really super duper, how ‘bout you throw in a garbage collector’s strike too? Seriously, they want more people to take public transportation for pollution, traffic, and parking spots reasons, but then make it infuriatingly impossible to actually get to work on time, or get home after a long day of work. The price is reasonable, but when you can’t count on being on time for work, one gets ready to say “Screw it, we’ll just buy a second car. To hell with the environment!”
Yesterday, I was sitting on the quai, reading the newspaper and waiting for the train. A guy comes up to me, dressed in a white t shirt and khaki pants, holding a SNCF blue hat. He asks to see my ticket. He didn't look like a ticket collector, he looked and acted like a guy trying to get my number. (He said it in the way that guys do when they think they've thought up a great pick-up line). I said no. He said -No, Why? Because you don't look like a SNCF ticket collector. -But I have this hat. Then show me some ID. (You never know, he could take my ticket and run off with it). Finally another guy (dressed in the full blues) comes up and asks to see my ticket. So I show it to him and complain about the strike. Vous faites chier à tout le monde!
This afternoon, on what would have been my day to get home early, I spent an hour playing musical trains. First it was quai 1 at 17:52. Then quai 2 at 18:12. Then quai 2b at 18:30. That train was announced, but then blew right past without stopping. Another train pulls up, the announcer says that it is going to Marseille, everyone piles on. And sits there for about 10 minutes until the message gets fully passed that no, this train is not going to Marseille. Everyone piles back off, goes back to quai 2 to finally catch a train at 18:55. Apparently it is because of the elections, because I overheard another guy talking about it. Wow, one more reason to love politics!

I find this song "I Don't Need a Man" by the Pussycat Dolls, completely hilarious. At first listen, it isn't bad. The lyrics
"I don't need a man to make it happen
I get off being free
I don't need a man to make me feel good
I get off doing my thing
I don't need a ring around my finger
To make me feel complete
So let me break it down
I can get off when you ain't around Oh!"

etc. sound fairly Girl Powerish until you watch the video.

I don't NEED a man either. I freely admit that I WANT one, am THROUGHLY happy with the one I have, and wouldn't TRADE him even for a man with a shower in his apartment, but I am not dancing around 3/4ths NAKED on tv proclaiming that I don't NEED one.

If this was Gloria Steinham dancing around in a muumuu, it would be somewhat convincing. But when your other songs are "Loosen up my Buttons"
"You been saying all the right things all night long
But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off
Baby, can't you see? How these clothes are fitting on me
And the heat coming from this beat
I'm about to blow
I don't think you know"

or "Beep"
"Every boy's the same
Since up in the seventh grade
They been trying to get with me
Trying to Ha, ha-ha, ha, ha-ha
They always got a plan
To be my one and only man
Want to hold me with their hands
Want to Ha, ha-ha, ha, ha-ha
I keep turning them down
But, they always come around
Asking me to go around
That's not the way it's going down"

You loose credibility.

What does this have to do with France? Just that Frenchwomen, for the most part, seem to own up to the fact that yes, they are dressing like that in order to attract men. That they didn't spend 100 euros on uncomfortable lingerie for a week long retreat in a convent and that they don't really LOVE wearing five inch high stilettos. At least they are honest about it.