The day that started with a smackdown & ended with public snoring

Of course, I was only a spectator.

Today was try number 6 or 7 for the Carte de Sejour. I was at the prefecture by 8:25, and the line was not too bad. We were out the building & down the street a bit, but not by much. Everyone was just shuffling along quietly until the smackdown, which happened about 8:45. I was barely in the building when this woman "excuse-moi'd" past me and was trying to get by this older man who was two people in front of me. Unfortunately for her, he was not having it. He argued with her (in French, of course) about the fact that we were all waiting in line & she could darn well take herself to the back of the line. She argued that for some reason, she belonged up in the front of the line. I don't know what her reason was, but both were convinced of their opinions, so she just tried to walk around him. That's when he tried bodily to stop her and started yelling for the police. Now this man was elderly. He had no business tussling with what appeared to be a healthy (not small) young woman. The mean little man in the glasses (you'll remember him from my last visit) came out & asked what all the fuss was about, and they stopped wrestling long enough to present their arguments. She must have made her point because the angry bureaucrat let her move forward, and the elderly defender of the line got quiet. The rest of us were speechless. Now you know me...I'm as mad as the next person when someone tries to jump in line, but I draw the line at wrasslin'.

So, after that little diverson, the line moved relatively quickly, and by 9:15 I was speaking with one of the behind-the-counter-bureaucrats who determined that my paperwork was in good order. Yay! Progress! By 9:30 I was upstairs waiting for the NAB--next available bureaucrat. Excellent. Or so I thought. Apparently there are at least two groups of numbers given. R numbers are apparently for people renewing their Carte de Sejours. D numbers are for people getting theirs for the first time. Apparently the D stands for, "you'll be spending the day here." There were at least six people waiting on R numbers. There was one PAINFULLY slow chick waiting on Ds. Lucky me. When I got there she was on #3. When she left for lunch (and they all left for about an hour and a half while we sat, starving & waiting), she was on #8. If not for a guy who started seeing D people after lunch, I would have had to sleep there tonight.

On average, the chick waited on two people an hour. She'd call someone up, spend 10 minutes talking to them, send them to sit back down, then shuffle papers, walk behind the counter, and chat with other bureaucrats for about 45 minutes before she'd call someone else. I was sending "pick up the pace" vibes to her, but they didn't take.

So after six hours of just sitting there, waiting, watching numbers come & go, watching R people come and go, wondering if I would ever be waited on, my number appeared on the magic screen, and I got to see the nice, speedy guy at guichet 18! He was the nicest of all the bureaucrats so far, and after 7.5 hours there, I left. At 4:00 this afternoon, I left with my temporary card and an appointment for my medical exam in about four weeks. After that, I should get my real life plastic Carte de Sejour! Who knows how long it'll be good for--and therefore how soon I'll have to renew it, but we'll think about that later. Wish me luck!

So, there I was: temporary card in hand and medical appointment scheduled. I even lucked out and got a seat on the metro ride home. In the seat next to me sat a woman who was apparently very tired. I glanced over at her & thought, "is she sleeping?" A minute later her snoring gave her away. The woman across from me heard her and started giggling which, of course, made me giggle. I wondered if we should wake her. I mean, who wants to go to sleep in Paris and wake up in the Paris suburbs? (Take my word for it, it's not American suburbia; you don't want to wake up there.) We left her alone, and who knows where she's sleeping now. There are people who sleep in the metro stations, but I don't think they'll let you spend the night in the cars. And yes, I did think that a picture of her sleeping on the metro would be great here, but I thought that would be rude. And the flash would probably wake her.

So no pictures today. Just envision masses of hungry, irritated people playing musical chairs and wondering when they're going to get to eat again. Then picture me buying a whole baguette and eating 2/3 of it immediately. And if you want you can imagine the smackdown. Now THAT would have made a good blog picture!