| C'est normal! | 2003-09-15 16:52 4 comments |
 by Flemming FunchThis evening we were coming back from dinner at our new friends Lionel and Silvie. And somehow I had thought that the metro went till half past midnight. But it doesn't on weeknights and the Capitole station was all closed up. So we were looking for buses, but there were none going to our part of town. One last bus showed up and my wife went to ask the driver where he was going. I instead were looking at the chart of bus plans and had already decided that it was hopeless. That bus was going to Empalot, which is in a totally different part of town, in a different direction. But a helpful employee of the bus company magically showed up, and after some discussion with the bus driver they decided that we'd just go with his bus, and when he was done with his route, he would drive us to where we needed to go. And, wonder of wonders, that's what happened. Instead of finishing his work day at 1AM, he drove us almost all the way home in his bus, and he was all smiling and friendly about it. The typical answer you get in this kind of situation here, when people go out of their way to help you is "c'est normal". "It's normal". Meaning: Of course we'll help you, it's the right and proper thing to do, no need to mention it. But there's a way of getting there, and a way not to. Notice that my wife was over there, involving the bus driver and the bus company employee in our problem of how we get home when the trains and busses don't run any longer, and we're tired and have a little kid, and there's a long way home. That's when it becomes quite possible and likely that they'll decide to help us solve it. Whereas I was just grumbling about having misunderstood the metro schedule, looking at the bus plan and deciding that there was no way, unless we walked or took a taxi. I obviously have a few things to learn about how to work things here. |