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|  || Friday, March 16, 2007 || Road to LyonIn case you're wondering, I am going to Lyon for the weekend. More accurately, I am currently in Lyon for the weekend. Anyhow, I lost my way getting to Lyon. You see I got onto the wrong train. My train was supposed to stop at St Pierre de Corps, but somehow the train wound up in Angouleme. So as the train drew up to the Angoulême station, I panicked and asked the man nearest to me if Angoulême was St Pierre de Corps by another name. The man looked at me in pity and said, "Vous avez trompé le train." (you've taken the wrong train). I stared at him blankly. "Vous avez trompé le train", he repeated. I stared at him blankly still. "VOUS AVEZ TROMPÉ LE TRAIN", he bellowed, painstaking precision in pronouncing each word. This was really pointless, I thought. Either I understood him, or I did not. If I did, it was foolish to repeat the sentence. If I didn't, I obviously didn't understand French, so it was equally stupid repeating the sentence; shouting it loudly wouldn't help. So as things passed I came to my senses and eventually decided to act, running to the conductor, who told me "Vous avez trompé le train". I continued staring blankly. So they led me to the ticket counter where they got someone to speak to me in English. I could perfectly well have spoken to them in French, but to insist after they had gone to the trouble of finding me a translator seemed ungrateful, so I gamely conducted my Q & A session in English. I would have to change the train in Paris, then go from Gare Montparnasse to Gare de Lyon, taking the metro... my greatest concern, really, whether I would have to pay more, because Paris train rides are expensive. So I asked the woman-at-the-counter. The woman-at-the-counter said that no, no extra charge was needed. I was relieved. I was thinking at this time, how nice the French were, and how helpful they have been. Then the woman at the counter (in French) told the other-woman-at-the-counter that my main worry was whether I would have to pay more, at which the-other-woman-at-the-counter said that they really ought to make me pay more, they were after all a private company (though it is considered public service), and held general conversation in the rude strain. I understood every single word. (OK fine, 90% of their words, but that's not the point) It was tempting to tell them I fully understood all that they were saying. I would have liked to see their faces. And the moral of the story is always stare blankly when you have lost your train, and never, never speak ill of another in front of her face, even if it looked blank. That other may very well understand you. |