While, from the news reports I read, it seems that half of France is rioting or striking or burning things, it's pretty quiet out here in Brittany. I've been following the growing chaos surrounding the government's CPE law with lots of amusement and absolutely zero sympathy for the protestors (My own thoughts on this were well-represented in this Expatica article). Hearing people with a 25% unemployment rate screeching over a law that would allow employers to fire them at will for two whole years before job entrenchment sets in is like.....well, a lot like hearing my American friends complaining about their "high cost of gas". One nods in polite sympathy and struggles to hide one's giggles. It's really difficult to take someone's complaints seriously when they're sawing their own feet off as they protest, though.Em and I took off for the coast this Sunday afternoon, with the sun bright and the weather warm. One of our favorite little hidden spots is the Baie of Carbonais, a fantastic rocky beach with some fascinating stratification and erosion patterns to the stone. We had to get out of the house - Non-stop work lately has pretty much made mushrooms of the both of us. It was really odd to see that big blazing bright thing in the sky again, whatever it was called. Not much more to say for the moment, though here's a classic photo of Em clambering around on the rocks, and those interested can also download a brief 16 meg video of what this beach looks like (Supply your own salt spray):
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I don't personally know for sure. I know it is much more heavily taxed here than in the US, and I suspect that the US market is a better 800 lb gorilla at beating the prices down to the minimum, but I'm sure the total picture is much more complex. IIRC, the last time we figured it, we were around $6+ per gallon here now.
OH yes, definitely... They'll be going up for the summer soon. However, we don't get hit nearly as badly, proportionally, as you do by oil price fluctuations since so much of the price is in taxes. If gas goes from $1.20 to $1.60 everyone goes, "AHHHHH!!!". If gas here goes from 3.20 to 3.60, it isn't as noticeable.
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