Why, oh WHY didn't I cancel the service?

That's what I was thinking on the way to Dan.

It was the demonstration of unity on Sunday and so bus 4's route was deviated.
Pat was making her first bus journey in three weeks and now she would be deposited some way from our usual stop.

"Et les trams passent par le centre ville?"
"Non." (it was a stupid question, really)

So it was Shanks' pony for us.

As we got near Cours Albret we saw a slow-moving stream of people filling the avenue, going from left to right.
We had to cross the stream.
Over the top? Under the legs? Pedestrian crossing?

"If we join the stream we can edge over bit by bit and come out the other side"

So we did, and it worked wonderfully well.
Then down Elisée Réclus - full of people.
Round by the Town Hall - a sea of people.
Through the crowd to the Musée Jean Moulin - stuffed with people.
Up the side of the Athénée Municipal - a stream of people.
Down Poquelin-Molière - people everywhere.

It wasn't till we got on to Rue Cancéra that we could walk normally.

I arrived at Dan, opened up, set up, people arrived.
Three new folk, one of whom had phoned in the week, one a boyfriend of one of our girls.
Psalm 2 - why is the world like it is?

At one point I said, "It's all well and good to say je suis Charlie, je suis Ahmed, je suis Juif, je suis flic, but the Bible tells me that at root I am one of the ones who rise up against God. The problem is me. The solution is Jesus."

We decided afterwards that changing your internet profile to say that would not be enough to convey the nuances of the Biblical message, and may draw the forces of law and order down on your head....

By the time we came out the crowds had dispersed. (HOW? There were between 140 000 and 200 000 people!) Bus 4 was running its usual route. We came home, tired but happy.

Pat's back was OK, and Catrin who would normally have a real problem with these crowds, had worked through her panic and made it wonderfully.

Cours Albret - we had to cross this stream

Near the Musée Jean Moulin - we had to cross this square


Where are my girls? Somewhere back there.

Vital Carles - we had to cross this stream



Comments

Emmanuel said…
I love the picture of the square near Musée Jean Moulin : folks enjoying a drink outside a café and looking bewildered at what is going on around them. They are probably thinking: why did we come here?
Alan said…
The cafés, kébaberies and pizzerias were all open and doing a roaring trade! Pour manifester faut manger, quoi!

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

The Kitchen