La Grève

Perhaps you've heard about the strike in France, depending on how up you are on the news.  Well, the strike, or "la grève," is dissipating.  It was going full force in October, but I didn't see any marches or torch-throwing crowds.. Most of those demonstrations took place in Paris.  I was affected by the strike a few times when I couldn't get to work because the buses and metro weren't running--a real inconvenience that left a lot of people standing at the stations... The other most obvious indicator was the trash.  Apparently the trash guys were in on the strike because nothing was picked up for a couple weeks and the trash began to accumulate on the corners and sidewalks.  I saw it in Sète and in Toulouse.  It's been picked up now, though.  Here's a picture of the trash in Marseilles, where it was the worst:

Whenever I mentioned the strike to anyone, the usual response was "Welcome to France, the country of strikes."  They've been striking ever since the Revolution, they say.  This particular strike was over the raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62, and over the economy and high unemployment. But, it didn't work!  It just cost the country billions of dollars... The President signed the new law into action anyways.