Having spent the last 5 months updating our website, we’re now preparing to go to the Ski & Snowboard show in London this week to promote it. Despite all our efforts it seems that we are plagued by hitches that are completely beyond our control.
Firstly, we order some flashy new business cards and typically – they haven’t arrived on time.
Secondly, the whole of France decide to go on strike the day we plan to travel to the UK.
Trying not to get too upset about this because it’s frankly, not the end of the world if we don’t have a new business card (we can print a few off here), and not too much of a problem to go to the Show on Thursday instead. But, don’t you just get fed up with making the best of plans only to have it all thrown up in the air by something like a strike. Earlier this year, we had to make an unscheduled drive to St Malo ferry port so that my step-daughter and her boyfriend could get back to the UK having had their flight cancelled due to volcanic ash. Completely out of our control, fortunately not a huge problem either for us, or with their workplaces, but not as planned… This time last year, we decided to travel to the ski show by train. It turned out to be a strike day – not an irregular occurance – and our arrival at the Gare in Poitiers at dawn was unnecessarily early as it turned out our train had been cancelled and we had to wait nearly 2 hours for another.
I may be sounding a little selfish here, as I can understand that the strikers do have grievances and it is probably their plans being put at risk that make them so upset. And I suppose I am grateful that planes didn’t crash because they were flying through volcanic ash, but how will this end? At the moment, we can’t drive anywhere for fear that we won’t be able to get any more fuel – our precious tankful will get us into the UK. Thousands of people are having their own well worked out plans tossed in the air as if they don’t matter. How many more inconveniences will there be before those on strike realise that their long retirements are a thing of the past and this third age of leisure has to be paid for. Leave us innocents alone to get on with our lives, be grateful you have a living and that you will also have a retirement.
French Leave 