The title of this post in French means: shame. I don't usually rant on this blog but this is going to be a big time rant. Snow was forecasted yesterday. And it came. It was so pretty. Slightly worried, I left the office at 15:19 hours, dropping my boss and a colleague off. What time did I arrive at home? 20:00 hours. That's 4 hours and 40 minutes for a distance of 18.6 kilometres (11.5 m). And you know what made my temper flare to boiling hot? The government said "il n'y a pas de pagaille", basically meaning there is no problem. Right. Don't believe politicians. Never. Don't believe journalists either, they tell you there are 170 km of traffic jams around Paris when in fact there were well over 400 km. Angry? Me? Really? I'm sure they'll find a perfectly good excuse to explain why the roads weren't cleared despite heavy snowfall having been forecasted. In this country at least, they usually say 'the snow was heavy' or 'the extent of the snowfall was unexpected' or something to that effect. And next time the problem will be exactly the same. I'm lucky, I made it home and I am thinking of all the people who will have been stranded for the night, having to sleep in their cars or public places such as gymnasiums that have been requisitioned by the authorities. Shame is the word. Oh... I took these photos yesterday at about 19:55 hours in Montreuil neighbourhood when I was almost home and to be fair, driving through Versailles wasn't the worst bit, the avenues had been more or less cleared in the city. I wish I could have shown better ones because it really is bee-eau-ti-ful out there. Sorry about this rant.--------------------------
Je n'ai pas l'habitude de trop râler sur ce blog mais là, j'en ai ma claque. Un peu inquiète par l'ampleur des chutes de neige, j'ai quitté le bureau hier à 15 h 19, déposant ma responsable et un collègue à la Porte d'Orléans. A quelle heure suis-je arrivée chez moi ? 20 h. Et vous savez ce qui m'a mise HORS DE MOI ? Les déclarations gouvernementales : "il n'y a pas de pagaille". Ah non, certes non, 4 h 40 pour faire 18,6 km, ce n'est pas la pagaille. D'où le titre de ce post. J'ai honte que dans un pays comme celui-ci, malgré les prévisions de Météo France, on trouvera demain des excuses, genre la neige était trop lourde, l'importance des chutes a surpris les services de l'équipement... Et la prochaine fois, ce sera exactement pareil. J'ai réussi à rentrer tant bien que mal, en première ou au point mort pendant environ les 9/10è du temps. J'ai une pensée pour les pauvres personnes tombées en panne, celles qui passent la nuit dans leur caisse ou dans les gymnases réquisitionnés dans les Yvelines. La honte je vous dis. Au fait, j'ai pris ces photos hier vers 19 h 55 à Montreuil, presque arrivée chez moi. Pour être honnête, à Versailles les grandes avenues étaient à peu près dégagées. Désolée de ne pas pouvoir montrer plus joli parce que dehors, c'est ma-gni-fique et au lieu de galérer, on devrait en profiter... Désolée de râler...
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS +1 d'accord avec toi...mis deux heures (la ou je met 1/4 heure) et j'ai eut de la chance, on a eut la permission de partir vers 14heures...sinon je pense que je serais encore ds ma voiture...
ReplyDeleteNo need to apologize, you are completely justified! Take a couple of deep breaths, have a glass of wine and relax. The most important thing to remember is you are home safe.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The snow is beautiful, I hope we get some, it's certainly cold enough.
What a good worthwhile rant! I can't believe it took you that long to travel such a short distance. Clearly, the city wasn't prepared for the snowfall. Enjoy being home -- safe and warm -- and knowing you captured some nice shots of the storm. Btw, I hope your boss and co-worker appreciated the ride in such conditions. : )
ReplyDeleteMy uncle used to rant all the time; big time! He lived to be 95!
ReplyDeleteKeep ranting! You had good reason for it. But then you've got to let it go. Until next time. Then rant some more.
Politicians and journalists are the same the world over these days...they have no conscience and do or say whatever their corporate masters tell them to do or say. (That's my little rant to today!)
Glad you made it home OK!
You were the one stuck on the street so I say you have a right to rant. That must of really sucked...but the snow is really beautiful! Can't believe how much it's piling up over there :-)
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. Living in the southern united states we hear the same thing when the snow comes. We don't have the equipment to clear the roads.
ReplyDeleteOui.....je vois ce que tu veux dire. Quand j'ai attendu le bus et que j'ai lu "intempéries. Trafic interrompu", j'ai bien compris que nous vivions des circonstances inhabituelles. Quand je suis descendue dans le métro et que j'ai entendu le message de la RATP, "en raison d'importantes chutes de neige, le trafic des bus est complètement suspendu", j'ai bien pensé qu'à l'extérieur de Paris, ça devait être le grand bazar !
ReplyDeleteJ'espère pour toi que demain il restera suffisament de neige pour faire à nouveau de belles photos, mais plus assez pour interrompre la circulation.
Ici on n'est pas équipé pour affronter des situations pareilles. Le gros défaut, c'est que les instances ne veulent pas reconnaître leur impuissance.....même moi, je n'ai pas de chaussures correctes pour marcher dans la neige ! Sourire.
A good rant every now and then is good for you. Letting it out (safely, like on your blog) is better for you than holding it in. But, Woody has the right idea: a deep breath or two and a good glass of wine.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how much snow over there.
You have every right to rant. So rant on! Nice photos. I am happy that you got home safe.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to rant once in a while; it's highly underrated :) Does this mean you have to go to work tomorrow/today or can you call it a snow day and stay home?!
ReplyDeleteAside from your justified rant, the photos are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteDarryl and Ruth : )
I think Woody comments sum it up. What makes me cross is that in situations like that I could have probably walked home quicker. Hopefully this will be a one off. I similar situation occured in Ebinburgh last week and the motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh is still blocked, The army, etc are now helping out.
ReplyDeletemais pourquoi veux tu qu'on mette du sel sur les routes ?
ReplyDeleteça ne rapporte rien ma pauvre Sabrina !!
Maintenant c'est pognon !
de plus les services de l'équipement et la DDE ont été réorganisé pour cela
Il fallait pas voter ainsi la dernière fois
Râle, râle, au moins ça te fait évacuer la colère justifiée par l'incurie! Là, prête pour émigrer, hein?!..:))
ReplyDeleteJ'espère très fort que ça ira mieux aujourd'hui!
Even on Israel TV they mentioned the places in Paris that the snow closed down.
ReplyDeleteBut you would think they could shovel the streets. You were stuck a long time.
My blog has a whole label in the index devoted to "bushot," the Hebrew word in plural for shame.
Same here! They never get it right. xxx
ReplyDeleteWhy does all this sound so familiar? We are lucky that snow is rare here!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to be able walk to work.
Wow, what a journey you had on your way back home.
ReplyDeleteHow was it the morning after???
We saw (not much about the traffic...) beautiful shots from central Paris covered in snow on the news last night.....
I'm sorry about your troubles getting home but France is just about the prettiest place in the world in the snow. Your photos are breathtaking. Maybe your boss will remember your kindness.
ReplyDeleteI learned a new word in French!
So good that you didn't run out of gas...even if you did run out of steam. It's good to let that 'steam' off here. And entirely understandable that you should feel frustrated. Did you at least have some beautiful music or an excellent book on tape to listen to while sitting in traffic?
ReplyDeleteRe some comments today, Ms. Ciel:
ReplyDelete"ocalacat" - how funny is that?
I don't know about internal plumbing in most places in Colorado...I'd guess it's widespread except for a few older cabins in the mountains...
The cattle you saw were not milk cows. And, just like civilized folks, our milk comes from grocery stores. In cartons. Pasteurized. I'm not sure where they get it from. ;-)
Oh chérie, thanks God everything is fine with you.
ReplyDeleteHere I had so many problems to get home.I was at school last night and I use to get 2 buses and no buses arrived, I decided to go home walking, the only way and the right decision because I faced the snow but I WON it! :)
After more than 2 hours walking.I got home late night, completely wet and freezing!
I think here in Lux it's something really different for all and nobody was prepared for that( I mean face this weather ), the snow came so fast!When I left home about 4pm it was okay, but suddenly everything was chaos!
You wrote about an important point, thanks so much!
** please, take care okay!
hugs
Léia
I hate to say it, but you could have WALKED the distance faster, Ciel. Living as I do in a "developing" country (although I often wonder whether at a snail's pace it even counts), I have a few traffic rants of my own. Bien compris. You're wise to see the beauty, though. Hope to see some more pretty snow photos, as I don't imagine I'll be seeing any snow for real this winter.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same problems when it rains a lot - can you believe that? The snow is pretty though.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you had such a miserable drive home! Snow is pretty...if you don't have to drive in it. I'm sooo glad you did make it home and didn't have to sleep in your car. Brrrr!
ReplyDeleteJe te comprends ; en 2000 la même histoire même, nos voiture du samu rester sur place pas assez équiper; un manque de savoir faire des autorité française; devrait faire des stage au canada: Aller c'est bientôt noël
ReplyDeleteRants like this are perfectly justified! We in Seattle had a very similar experience just a couple weeks ago. Friends spent many hours getting home just a few miles like you. The city "should" have been prepared ... but once again they didn't plan for conditions! SHAME is right!
ReplyDeleteWhat a familiar story that is!!! It's precisely the same here, a little snow is allowed to cause an awful lot of chaos!! No politician is to be trusted at all, ever!!
ReplyDelete