The strike really stroke me this morning. 2h15 to get to the office compared to the usual 30 mins! What a record!
Today, they prolonged the strike. Not quite as pervasive as yesterday, but since people were anticipating that things were to get back to normal, everyone went out in the morning rush hours. The result was a catastroph. I had never seen so many cars in the street in front of our place before. People went to different directions, left, right, straight.... Chaos. Some were anxiously waiting for the bus who never arrived because of the jam. I could see the tense on everyone's face.
Me, I was determined to go to the office by Velib' this morning. No bikes left at the station near my place. I ran to the next station nearby. Nothing. The third one, zero! No, not really zero. There were 3 or 5 bikes in each of those stations, but they were all out of services. Flat tyre, broken chains, etc. Hhmmm... even Velib' employees were at the strike too.
So, I kept on heading east hoping to get a bike in the next station. No result. Went down to metro. 8-minute waiting time. Then the next one would be in 31 minutes! Needless to say, the platform was packed, packed, packed! I decided to get out and wait for a bus. Ten minutes passed. I could see my bus in the distance, without any sign of moving closer. The traffic was really bad. So, I kept on walking until the next bus stop (still hoping for a bike). Finally, I got on the bus until I realized it was a bad idea, as the bus was moving too slowly. There was no way I would reach the office in time for my 10 o'clock meeting. I got off at the next stop and took another bus to the different direction, which is my home direction! "Yes, I am coming back. This is not worth all the effort. Better work from home again."
Reached home. Drank a glass a water. Dita mentioned tram might lightly interrupted. Well, that was the only transport means I had not tried. Walked 10 minutes to the tram station down south. Look what I saw on the way... rows of bikes at the Velib' station near the tram station! Anyway, I was too late for a bike now. Besides, my tram was approaching. I was relieved! Finally... I reached the office after 2h15!
Whilst walking from the tram station to my office, I saw someone put chain lock around a Velib' bike, so nobody but him would be able to use it! Nasty....
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