Black Tuesday

Today is "Black Tuesday" or "Mardi Noir" in France. A nation wide strike of the post office, Air France, the metro, train and bus systems, the ferry, highway toll booth workers, and some school teachers and hospital workers. Basically its a mass protest against planned state pension reforms. I don't understand it all (who does?!) but if you want to read the BBC version here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4305456.stm or http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-13-2003-40261.asp for exactly what who was effected by the strike.

I only saw one bus today in Marseille when I usually see a dozen on my walk to work. Surprisingly, the traffic seemed to be less than normal. I think a lot of people just stayed home or walked because they assumed the traffic would be crazy because the buses wouldn't be running. Funny thing about this strike is that its been public knowledge for at least a week; giving people time to make other travel arrangements, etc. And it didn't effect we one bit, because my main mode of transport is my feet. They never go on strike...but they do complain every now and then.