La Greve, Rugby et Les Separations

La greve aujourd'hui. Une grande greve. Le plus grande depuis que je suis arrive a Paris.

It's a strike day today all across France for all types of public transportations, which include trains, metro, bus and tram. Not totally paralyzed, as those companies, under the French law, are still obliged to deliver minimum services to public during the strikes. The reality was the guaranteed services were way too minimum for people to do their normal business, i.e. below 20% of the regular service, which means people would have to wait more than half an hour for your transports. Yet, some transportation means, like tram, were completely dead! Bus services were not at all guaranteed (and I did not see a single bus crossing our street today).

This is the largest strike since I arrived in Paris. There had been some small strikes here and there with no significant impact on most people. But this time, I myself got affected too. Although I could have opted to use Velib' (bike) as an alternative solution to go to work, I decided to work from home, instead (fortunately I did not schedule any meeting today). Better stay away from the troubles. Lucky enough, I read from the news that the number of Velib users doubled to 27,000 this morning, which could mean tough competitions to get one bike, unless you started your day really early. My biggest worry was that unable to get a bike on the way home. That would have been a disastrous long journey home. This afternoon, I saw quite a long queue on the Velib' station near where I live.

The worst is yet to come. It seems the Labour Union may prolong the strikes until tomorrow. We'll see....

What triggered the strike? The new French government under Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced the plan to change the retirement plans for a special regime (group) of public services employees who work in areas that are considered dangerous, e.g. train or bus drivers, gas or electricity workers. Under the current plan, that group of employees are eligible to opt for retirement as early as the age of 5o. Now, Mr. Sarkozy would like to erase this privilege for the sake of egalite for everyone, which means they would not have any choice but to retire at 65, like everyone else in France. In addition, they will change the way they calculate the pension plan for those people.

In 1995, the Prime Minister back then, Alan Juppe, touched the same issue which resulted in a huge strike and demonstations on the street. People managed to make him step down. Will it be the same this time? I personnally doubt it for several reasons (I am not trying to be political here). Firstly, Sarkozy has a good reason by arguing that he was eligibly elected to lead this country for a change that was eagerly wished for by his voters, which means most people had approved this plan during his presidential campaign. Secondly, according to the survey, 65% of the French say that the strike this time was not well justified, which means that privileged group of employees receive less supports from their fellow countrymen than they did 12 years back.

Enough for the strike. Back to rugby. Tomorrow, France will play Argentine again to aim for the 3rd place. Last week, the England made Les Bleus look like a team of kindergarden kids (perhaps it's too much of an exaggeration). A huge disappointment, to be exact. They did not play as well as they had when they beat All Blacks. Far below par! Anyway, England also had to thank the incredible Wilkinson for the win.

Back to Sarkozy. While he was faced with a big strike today, the rumor of his separation from his wife, Cecilia, had been the headlines of the week. Historically, they had been separated before for a little while. The media speculates this time may be the end of it. It started with the facts that Cecilia has disappeared from all official protocols for the last few weeks. Anyway, who cares? I put it here because I noticed an interesting phenomena. Madame Segolene Royal (the female president candidate from the Socialist Party) also parted her way from her husband, not long after her loss to Sarkozy. What the hell is wrong with those politicians? If they cannot even keep their families together, how could they boast about family values at their campaigns? Better yet, why should they even be allowed to lead a country?

Les Bleus... Incroyables!

If there is a saying "Nothing is Impossible", last Saturday Les Bleus proved it right. Alright, I underestimated them, so did everyone else. The previous seven consecutive defeats from All Blacks did not seem to bother them. Trailing 3-13 in the first half only stimulated their fighting back spirit. I have to admit it was the best rugby match I have ever seen so far... And the best game ever played by Les Bleus. They were discipline. Their defense was like a wall which made All Blacks frustrated. Their sudden attack strategy proved to be extremely effective this time. In addition, the player selections in the first and second half were brilliant, thanks to their coach. 20-18. Chapeau pour Les Bleus!

Next... England in the semifinal. England also made a miracle last week after beating Australia who was another big favorite, 12-10, without any try. Jonny Wilkinson, once again, was the hero of the match. Now, both underdogs were on the cloud nine. England, as the defending champion, will not give it up so easily. France, on the other hands, has learnt their lesson from the beginning of this world cup. Besides, they will take advantage playing in their own home.

Regardless, I think we will witness another world-class game again tonight. Allez, Les Bleus!

Rugby WC 2007: Did Les Bleus Blow It?

The Rugby World Cup 2007 is half way through, but it seems that everyone has already agreed that All Blacks (the nickname of the New Zealand team) is the strongest contender to lift the trophy from the defending champion, England. No doubt, they are now rank #1 in the world. From the four group matches completed in the last three weeks, All Blacks has demonstrated their true class. They prove to be too solid for the other four teams in the group, technically and physically. Their intimidating Haka proves to be effectively too 'frightening' this time.

What about Les Bleus (The French team)? As a host, I have to say the French did not do a good job. Why on earth did they arrange France vs Argentina as the opening match? Didn't they learn that Argentina is one rank above France? Didn't they study the statistics from their previous six matches whereas Argentina won five of them? Or perhaps they were so blindly over confident that their team could overcome the Tango at home.

As everyone has already known, the result was a disaster. The nervous France was humiliated in front of their own public and President! 17-12 for the Puma Argentina! So disastrous that now France has no option but playing NZ in the QF next week.

I say the French blew their best opportunity to advance to the final. It is still not understood why the two best teams in their group would have to meet in the opening match? Learning from FIFA World Cup, usually the two strongest teams in each group face each other in the very last qualification match, hoping to be a decisive one, in order to determine who will finish as the topper of the group. If the French organizers did it just to serve a good level of match in front of the French public and Nicolas Sharkozy, they could have chosen Ireland whose ranking is notably below France. And Les Bleus would have had a better chance of saving their face! Besides, Les Bleus would have had several easier matches in store to play around with their team formation and strategy, cast away their nervious start, before eventually playing their best game against the Argentine. Chances are they might not have been humiliated and they would have topped their group... and they would not have had to play NZ that early.

Anyway, it is now too late for Les Bleus. They will now just need to weather the storm and expect for the worst, because on their last two friendly matches in Paris and Marseille this year, All Blacks mercilessly did not give any chance to Les Bleus. Not to mention, next week they will play in Cardiff (Wales), whilst Argentina will play their QF match in St Denis, Paris. So much for the screw-ups! Say goodbye to their dream best scenario. Bon courage, Les Petits!