Saturday, June 02, 2007

Congratulations France on getting ruled notepad paper

The lined notepad I bought in Bordeaux had the word "NOUVEAU" on the packaging. I wonder why it's taken so long?

Pedestrian crossing light update: the "green man" does not move (shucks!), but the ones near the train station look like they're marching. Vite! Cross the street!

Another perhaps quirky note: I am sure most of you have heard an announcement on a PA system at some point in your life that used a few tones at the start to call your attention. All Islanders, for example, should be familiar with the "bee-bee-boop" sound used to start the "welcome aboard" announcement on the ferries. Well, some train stations use the tone system as well. French train stations, however, decided to jazz it up a bit. They don't just have tones, they have short compositions that involve a woman singing along to the tones. It's quite upbeat, and after a few hours of waiting for a train I found myself even singing along.

So as I write this I'm now in Budapest. The details of my journey here will be in my next post. Some people may be wondering: what happened to visiting northern Italy? Well, it's all booked up I'm afraid, or it seems that way. I've gotten tired of fighting with hordes of other backpackers for accomodation so I'm leaving Italy for another time, perhaps in a less busy season.

I still haven't seen much of France, but I'm not too worried as I figure I'll be back. France is just so easy for me to travel in compared to other non-English speaking countries. I also toy with the idea of getting a work visa for France and living there to improve my French, as I'm beyond the level where classrooms can help me anymore.

For the first time in my life I feel really glad that I took the late French-immersion program (here's a brief description for any non-Canadians). It's not that I ever regreted it before, but I never really felt that it had done me a huge service or that I had come out of it very fluent.

2 comments:

Andytgeezer said...

I've always wondered why 12 inch rulers are always labelled "SHATTER PROOF"

Is there some sort of danger in the rest of the world from shattering rulers? Is this a feat of engineering to be vastly proud of?

Megan said...

Having passed out many a shatter-proof ruler in my days as a lab instructor, I have often wondered that myself (there's not a lot to do in the lab sometimes).

Considering in the ol' days it used to be wood rulers, and I haven't really seen them shatter, I don't know if there was ever a concern.

I do know that the buggers won't shatter, at least not under any conditions I put them through.