The Clash

Ok, so I've given France the benefit of the doubt on most occasions; sure, the strikes were a bit excessive, but freedom of expression is nice I suppose. However, the banking system leaves a lot to be desired, the sneaky bastards. Basically, my nice shiny new bank card arrived the other week and appeared to be doing everything it was being told. So far so good, right? However, come the drawing-money stage, it doesn't bother to tell you that the PIN you entered the first time was wrong, allowing you to carry on as if everything's fine while secretly storing up tiny little microchips of vindictiveness (you know how a group of crows is a "murder" - this is the technical term for a collection of vindictivenesses) before pouring out all its bent up frustration in one fell swoop. Long story short, it ate my card without my knowing it, since it didn't tell me I had done anything wrong. Hooray. So, being France, the actual bank is shut for a 7-hour lunch break, meaning I have to come back after one of my classes to sort it out, whereupon I'm told that I can't simply reclaim the card thanks to their silliness, but that the card itself has been cancelled, blocked and destroyed, and that I have to have another one ordered (a feat that will take several days thanks to bank holidays etc). Quod. The. Fuck. In short, not a happy bunny. Also, my classes today were rubbish. Even the ones I tend to consider as pretty competent were in sleepy mode, meaning I was effectively trying to squeeze blood out of a stone, which by all accounts isn't the easiest task in the world, though I have yet to try it. One of my students did decide to take umbrage at the notion of Guy Fawkes' day because we were effectively celebrating the execution and posthumous proxy-burning of Catholics in protection of the monarchy. True, I say, but just you wait 'til I release my lions...

Remembrance day tomorrow. We work, we stand still and twiddle our thumbs for 2 minutes at 11am, everyone carries on as per. Right? No. Not here. We have a day off, followed by another one on the 12th because it allows for continuity into a long weekend. A very long weekend. 3pm Wednesday afternoon to 5pm Tuesday afternoon is my weekend, with exactly 4 hours of work undertaken. It's hard this language assistant thing.