So, everyone knows that Europeans are known for "striking" at any moment. France especially. And no I don't mean hitting another human being with a strong fist. I mean that awkward, inconvenient, period of time when organizations, employees, or the like decide they deserve a snack break from their daily job or think for some far minded reason that they haven't received what they deserve.
The great Parisian sanitation department strike was a few weeks before I arrived in the fall of 2010, as well as the metro/public transportation strike which affected some of my friends who came at the beginning of the school year but I seemed to dodge both of them coming in November. There have been small strikes stirring up conversation and riots in Bastille, protests and marches through the Grands Boulevards and blips in transportation delays on a few of the RER trains...but nothing that has affected me directly.
Until NOW.
Belgium's 3 greatest trade unions have decided to strike starting Sunday night lasting 24 hours until Monday night to protest the governments budget cuts. This just happens to include ALL public transportation in Belgium. SO, our Thalys train that runs from Paris to Amsterdam (with a stop in Brussels) will not be running our return train. Trains, metros, buses, airports, airplanes.....everyone will be on strike so unless you are taking a taxi, you won't be going anywhere. What good does that do the country? I have no idea because the government has already said they they have no plans of reallocating money to the budget. Belgium is already in enough governmental turmoil, so if they are going to shut down the transportation, they might as well just shut down the entire country. It's small enough....that's totally legit, right?
I am a bit bitter...can you tell? Certainly shows I am not truly European. We will reschedule our trip for another weekend...possibly the weekend of the 11th if I don't have to babysit. Or perhaps on into March.
Now...let's just hope Italy doesn't follow suit and decide to take some time off. If that happens.... Europe and I? Well, we will have a problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment