In a move that I’m sure wouldn’t surprise many people (at least many people outside of France), this Thursday has been declared (by the country’s biggest unions) to be a national day of strike. Thus far, the groups set to strike will be (takes a breath):

The national train company, the Paris transportation company, the urban transport companies, the postal service, the French national telecommunications company, the teachers, the national electricity company, the French radio, the civil servants, the hospitals, the gas company, naval construction companies, the public employment company, the airports, French national television networks, the national French bank, the banks, the magistrates, the automobile manufacturers…

This is the list thus far. This also means that anyone trying to get to work will be unable to get to work, so whatever you do, don’t come to France this Thursday. Or Friday for that matter.

Speaking of which, my girlfriend and parents are visiting me in Paris this weekend. If I get there. Or they get there. Balls.

And of course all this comes on the same day that Ulster Bank ups and drops 750 jobs, and Iceland announces that it is selling Sigur Ros to fund its crippled economy.

Actually, for an interesting insight into Parisian life, take a look at A Year in the Merde, by Stephen Clarke. I borrowed it from Adrian and enjoyed it immensely.

By the way, the French are under the impression that every other country in the world strikes as much as they do. I really didn’t understand how much they strike before I got here.

Right, I might start plotting a walking route to Paris, just in case.