Bob is up first . He's ready to have the rugby ball kicked.
His sister detours via the kitchen to see if there is anything to eat.
Finally, we head off to the greengrocers for artichokes.
The greengrocer provides one size bags for everything with the exception of the leeks which have their own special elongated plastic bags. How very French.
On our return we get on to the motorway easily enough.
Only to find twenty kilometres down the road that our exit is barricaded. As is the next. We are told by the electronic information sign to take a detour via the Paris motorway ...
The second electronic sign is helpfully unreadable. We discover as we go that all the exits have been cordoned off by the police. We end up having to drive into Toulouse and back out again on the back roads. A 160 kilometre round trip.
The reason for this long detour soon becomes clear. The farmers are up in arms again over low supermarket prices and government subsidies. They've piled cow dung and tractor tyres in front of all the pay stations. To make their protest more memorable they've set fire to the tyres. The interaction of burning tyres and cow dung is not easily forgettable.
The protest at our nearest toll booth seems to have turned violent. We pass a score of riot police vans and water cannons on the motorway.
Bob and Sophie are given a walk at the service station. They find the car park to be full of interesting smells. Theythink it's all great fun.
What a wave ! : https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/958150975134474240
8 comments:
From outside the country, there is something reassuringly unchanging about the nature of French farmers' protests.
You just have to love their strength in standing up to the multi nationals ( one would assume as owning the supermarkets
More sympathetic than the motorcyclists who have been blocking roads to protest the new 80 km/h speed limit--as if they respected the speed limit or any other traffic laws.
In France it seems that almost everyone strikes for some reason or another, but the farmers certainly do things in "style" ! Is it just an excuse to clear out the dung?
Hari OM
Was Mlle Sophie complaining all the way "are we there yet???"
Wonder if that little ship ever knew it would grow up to be a submarine???
YAM xx
M. Bob, you are looking especially adorable this morning!
Sounds like an interesting drive home.
Bob and Sophie definitely have their individual priorities. I must admit I tend to identify more with Sophie than Bob! I always enjoy a visit to your greengrocers; so much more interesting than our local markets. The farmers are creative in how to make a disturbance. Stephanie (Jo) in Northern California.
Post a Comment