The other day I had to rush home after work, to relieve my poor old dogs - they had been staying alone at home for the whole day and I was fearing the worst - at least for my curtains and perhaps even for the carpet in the living room...
So, off I dashed and guess, what happened to me: Traffic Jams all over the place.
There were no traffic lights - apparently the whole "European Quartier" had no electricity... So, please, imagine a rush hour + roundabouts+buses+pedestrians+drivers of different nationalities all together trying to get out of this mess and to go home to their respektive dogs, cats, children, ovens or shops.
No police far and near and up and down to be seen. We were all on our own.
It felt like being in a huge malstrom - you simply cannot move in any direction and have to wait until, centimeter by centimeter, you can gain territory and then take all your courage to speed into the smallest little spaces available for you and your car: Furious looks from all parties. Resignated frowns. Some start to toooooooooooot. One feels like killing the innocent neighbour - who turns out to press so near to your car, that you are indeed in danger of getting scratched - and he hears loud beat music and smokes in his car. Indignation starts to mount its ugly head.
I feel transported back to my times in countries far far away, where 6 files of cars instead of 3 was a normal situation, but not as stressful as this, as everybody was driving according to the "rules" and the traffic eventually moved.
Here we have the famous clash of civilisations - north versus south, east versus west ( please not the political correctness in this statement), young versus old and lawabiding against entrepreneurial styles of driving. Oh God. It was hell.
It took me almost an hour with a quick run through fury, impatience, resignation, dumb acceptance and the rare flickering of sportive search for an oportunity and muchmuch patience to get home after all, but I did it - expecting the worst. But the children had arrived before me and there was no catastrophe. Clever dogs - all the stress for nothing!
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