The first transport strike of 2010

So today was the first fairly significant transportation strike of 2010. Of course, it happens on the day that I need to use 2 different RER (regional trains), both of which are affected by the strike. It probably wouldn't be so bad, if I wasn't on such a precise schedule as well. So first off, I am thankful I wasn't heading to the airport. Not only was it one for every two trains running, but they were only leaving and returning to Gare du Nord and from the upper platforms, which is you are not from the area or haven't been here for awhile, could make things more complicated for sure. However, the trains I needed were still one for every two trains running. Thankfully, I left for teaching early enough that when the one I usually catch was cancelled, I still had enough time to get to work with the following train. However, coming back into the city was a little tight considering that on a good day, I have a 15 minute window to get from that train to the one that takes me to coaching, and of course the one I was on was 10 minutes late getting into the station. Needless to say, I did the unpleasant but sometimes necessary metro station dash. Luckily, the train I was supposed to catch again was cancelled and the one following it was only 10 minutes later. So eventually, I made it to coaching and only 10 minutes late. All things considering it could have been a lot worse. However, coming home tonight was a royal pain in the butt. First, the bus to take me to train station came by 15 minutes early which was while I was still in the gym, therefore I had to wait another half hour for the next. Then I got to the station and the usual trains weren't running and had to wait again for another half hour for a train. This train however, kept switching when it was going to get into the station, it increased by 5 minutes twice, then went back to its original time, then went to 5 minutes early then finally went back to the original time, which was when it arrived. SO after a long day of travels I can honestly say that eventhough I had some difficulties, it did not make my life riduculously crazy, and I was still able to get where I needed. Therefore the whole concept of a strike which would cause major problems in the city, didn't really work out so well. Most people were either not affected at all or very minimally, so if I was the negotiating parties, I would not have been eager to make any changes since the strike didn't really shut down the city as most strikes do back in Canada. Although I can't be too upset because I was still able to get to work and it would have been much worse if I hadn't :)