To find out what the situation is like in Angers, I decided to go and have a walk around the city centre, and see what was open, what was closed, and if I came across any angry protestors. Angry protestors I did not find. But was Angers crippled by these strikes or not? Let’s find out.
When walking into down, it did appear to me that it felt a bit quieter than normal. There did not seem to be same number of cars which there normally are through the city centre. There were fewer buses running today in Angers, but not to the extent where there were no buses. There seemed to be adequate buses running and on the buses there did not seem to be crushes of people trying to get anywhere.
Moving into the town, no shops or banks were closed. It did not seem that any of Angers’ banks were closed.
The main thing which I found in the town was an increase in children. When walking into town, I noticed that the school near where I live was closed: I could see chairs on tables in the building. In town, it was evident that schools and colleges were closed. In the centre of town there were college students skateboarding in the central square, which usually happens only at weekends.
Moreover, there were many mothers with their children in town today. Seemingly trying to find something to do with them. Many times I saw a mother with one or two children with her. Also I came across a snake of 20 or so 4 or 5 year olds being looked after two or three women. Seemingly not enough of them to look after the children who they were looking after.
Also I came across a group of 14/15 year olds walking through town, about 25/30 of them, obviously not at school today, on a kind of shopping trip instead, all of them with H&M bags.
The amount of children and teenagers in the town centre obviously meant that many educational establishments were today closed today.
I then went across town to check out what was happening at the station. On the face of things you wouldn’t know anything was wrong. All the cancelled trains appear to have been taken off the departure board to hide the problems perhaps. Whatever, there seemed to be enough trains running today through Angers, only difference on the board was the addition of “Autocar” by some destinations.
Even the post office was open, albeit with a reduced service. Evidently some staff must have stayed away as there was a sign at the door saying that they were only serving people who wanted to send mail or make cash withdrawals.
Services like the firemen seemed to be unaffected, luckily! However when passing the fire station I did see the following:
Préservons nos droits et acquis Service Publique de Qualité. Publique/Privé même combat. Preserve our rights and established quality public services. Public/private sectors: the same fight.
The fire fighters obviously sympathising with the strike, though not officially taking part today.
In conclusion, it appears that on the surface it is almost business as usual in Angers today, though with reductions in some services. It appears there is more disruption in other parts of the country, but as far as I am aware, it appears that the disruptions have not been as wide spread as predicted.
Jeudi noir? more like Jeudi du soleil!
blogger Conor has created a nice little blog post explaining what’s affected on Thursday here in France. 
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