No cable ... so no skiing either

Ok, so I know I was supposed to log on when I got back home and try to post some pics from Switzerland, but I’m ashamed to tell you that I have no idea where I put the cable that hooks up my digital camera to my computer!!!

I’m sure it’s somewhere in the what I like to call “man’s closet”, which is basically a closet in our living room where we keep our booze on the upper shelves, our home maintenance junk (spare light bulbs, cell phone chargers, HOOK UP CABLES…) on the middle shelves and the work tools and supplies (hammers, drill, bolts, nails…) on the bottom shelves. See how manly the man’s closet is? I would take a picture of it right now….. if I KNEW WHERE THE @”#&!£ CABLE IS!!!!

Anyway, in the meantime I have to post about something funny that’s currently going on here. You know how a few months back we were in major galère* with the whole public transportation strike going on? Well, it turns out that in the charming country of France the middle classes aren’t the only ones to suffer from an overload of public manifestations that aim to paralyse the country…. The rich also have to indulge some souffrances too!!!!

As of yesterday the ski resorts employees are on strike!!! You read right, THE SKI RESORTS EMPLOYEES ARE ON STRIKE --- STOP THE PRESS!!!!!!

This basically means that such posh ski spots like Courchevel and Val Thorens up in the French Alps are currently hors service (out of order) and that the “poor” folks that had been counting on catching the slopes and doing some sports de hiver…….. aren’t sport-ing d’hiver-ing much.

So what are the picket line requests? Higher wages I suppose or maybe private health coverage (who can blame them for that?). Whatever the reason, this week is foutu* for the skiers and the way the weather is going it looks like the snow is not going to last much longer.

Now, you may think you detect an itsy bitsy bit of amusement in my tone… nothing of the sort.... it’s not that I’m jealous of them skiing or even being on vacations… it’s more like I’m amazed that this could even happen… I mean, do the employees in Aspen go on strike in the middle of the high season? Do the 5 star-hotel concierges in Cancun suddenly say “estoy en huelga” to their boss smack in the middle of spring break? Do the discos in Ibiza say "talk to the hand" to the hoards of jet setters coming in to party during the summer?

I know what you’re thinking…. What about the screen writer’s strike that almost shut down the Oscar’s, right? But, see that’s the thing…. The unions didn’t go as far as to cancel the Oscar’s and even if they’d been willing to go all the way, the big suits in Hollywood would never have let it happen anyway….

So how can the big suits in Evian and Annecy let this happen in the middle of les vacances d'hiver? vacances, I might add, that are set on the calendar of every self respecting frenchman precisely for that purpose.... skiing!

Beh.... c'est comme ça, c'est la France!........... C’est la vie!

So no skiing for the rich and famous right now…. let them eat cake instead =)

Fned.

*Glossary:
Galère: Hassle
Foutu: Ruined