November ends nicely

Not only did November have a fantastic beginning, as is usually the case, given that it is the celebration of me coming into this world, but it also had a lovely end (touch wood - it's not over yet...).

The end of November saw the end of the strikes!! YAY! Only fellow Parisians will know exactly what it's like to live through strikes in Paris, but let me tell you it is not enjoyable to put it nicely. Having said that, negotiations are long and continuing so it is highly likely the strikes will come back to haunt us in December, but for the moment we are greeted by trains at metro stations and not by a trainless platform full of aggressive, psychotic commuters who think that they are the ONLY person being affected by the strikes.

The end of November also saw the beginning of my CDI (which for everyone else in the world outside of France just means a full-time, permanent position). That's right, now I am officially an Assistant Producer for France24 - the best source of news and information available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ;) And being France, I actually have more days off per year than I have working days! Well, given that I work in the middle of the night (11pm til 5.30am) as compensation, I only have to work 15 days (or nights as the case may be) in a month. Add to that my 6 weeks annual holidays and I don't feel like I work very often. But I'm definately not complaining - I work with a great group of people and for the moment, I'm very happy.

And for the icing on the cake, November also ended with Mr. Howard losing the election. Finally I don't have to put up with little Johnny, his crazy ideas and worse still his parachute material tracksuits for his bloody power walking escapades (although I think I prefer the tracksuits to the shorts - see below). We will see how the labor party will go, whether this will be an altogether positive change remains to be seen but at least I can say goodbye to John 'Mr. Extreme' Howard.