200% more rain

Tropical dreams

A recent email ended with my sign-off, “Enjoy the grey skies”.

The exchange ended with the query, “By the way, how does one enjoy the grey skies?”

Blue skies guaranteed

To be honest, I haven’t the faintest clue. The recent weather, full of rain and lacking light, seems to have the entire city in a slump. If you’re a visitor, you just buck up, put on a happy face and hit out to see the sights; museums, restaurants, cafés are all waterproof. Not as easy for denizens, whose sights tend to be the local Carrefour, or the inside of the same office you see all day, every day. But I do try…

I remind myself that the sky is blue in Syria. Suddenly, dull, grey Paris is sounding fantastic. When I asked a handful of locals how they cope. I expected a dozen different answers. I got one; they concentrate on their vacation plans. I can’t believe I had to ask.

You can even surf in the rain...

At this very minute the government is proposing more school holidays for students who already enjoy almost two weeks of vacation every six weeks. How is that for an economic austerity plan? More holidays for everyone! This news would be absolutely tragic for working families, but most employees get a minimum of 6 weeks paid holidays with a 35 hour work week so nobody is complaining. Except the financial markets, and maybe Germany.

Vacations are so important in France that large companies offer their employees Chéques Vacances. Chéque Vacances are gift certificates that can be used to pay for hotels, vacation rentals, surf clubs, golf resorts, theme parks and even highway tolls, a really generous way for companies to subsidize their employee’s vacations.

Summer vacation is taken so seriously in France, that along with the Fall campaign to help Children’s hospitals, it is one of the top charitable organizations in a country that doesn’t really do much fundraising. There are “Send a kid to camp” drives, “take a kid on vacation with you” opportunities and Ferrero chocolate sponsors “Kinder Village” summer camp. Even the City of Paris subsidizes some kids’ summer plans, because in France vacations are not a luxury.

Getting us through the grey....

And where are the French going this summer? Many stay in France, visiting family, heading to their vacation homes or going to exactly the same spot they stayed at last summer, and the summer before that and all the summers in the last 20 years. Unfortunately for us, the weather reports don’t look good, and we may all end up chasing the grey, instead of chasing the grey away.

 

 

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4 thoughts on “200% more rain

  1. Every year I become less and less impressed with Parisian summers and understand why everyone flees the city come July. It’s cold and wet! The first year I thought it was just a fluke…but no, it’s like this almost every year.

    You have way more experience with Paris than I do. Do you recall ever having a sunny summer in Paris?

    • Hey babe, I was here for the canicule, 2003. The heat was killer that year (unfortunately, that is literally).
      But actually, the majority of my Paris summers have been hot with lots of humidity, making summer wear fun to wear. This cold grey is rare and we’ve all had enough (you hear me powers that be?)

  2. “6 weeks paid holiday with a 35 hour workweek”.

    Another reason to love France. I love the idea of working to live, not living to work. Something North Americans should try to do more of (I’m doing my part by taking at least 5 weeks of vacation a year, lol).

    Jo

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