Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Signs and transitions

There's a street sign in France that's round and has a diagonal slash on it. In the upper half 1-15 is written and 15-31 in the lower half. And it tells you that you're on a street where parking is allowed on the left side for the first half of the month and on the right side for the second half. Cars are supposed to be switched to the appropriate side on the last day between 8 and 10 pm or something along those lines. I don't remember all the details. I took the written driver's license test here when I was pregnant with Boy1, who will be 8 in a few days.

Anyway, I have to drive on a street with that parking system every day on my way to work. Which is fine, it's a perfectly functional street. For 20 days out of the month. The other 10? Not so much.

It's that whole transition problem.

From the 15th to the 20th, there are cars parked on both sides of the street. As well as from the last day of the month until the 5th of the following month. Which would be perfectly acceptable if it were a street wide enough to accommodate parking on both sides, which it is not, which is why it sports that sign in the first place.

I'm not complaining, I weave that street 10 days a month, just like the rest of the people who drive on it. I'm just noticing.

We see signs but we don't always heed them. Because transitions require effort.

So we ignore for as long as we can and then we just do what needs to be done.

I've asked this before but I'll ask it again, how well do you transition?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi nicole!

I m sorry for tne news! eh oui je ne vois pas le temps passer!je pense bien à toi pourtant, j'espère que tu vas bien! en lisant tes post je te trouve un brin mélancolique! pour ma part je suis bien contente de travailler (enfin)! entreprise super, j'apprends plein de chose, formation super, a very interesting job and (well payed)!!very good! j'espère te voir bientôt! Je souhaite rester en contact avec toi car je t'apprécie beaucoup et j'aime ta compagnie! see you soon!

Anonymous said...

yes, I agree, transitions require effort. . .I guess the questions might be. . .is the result of the transition worth the effort or is not making the transition worth making the effort. . .ok - the question made sense when I said it in my head - but it does not make sense when I type it out.

Nicole said...

Anne-Laure - Je pensais à toi hier - on mange ensemble cette semaine? Je n'ai pas les garçons avant jeudi midi donc cela peut être midi ou soir - comme tu veux. Bisous

Beth - I know what you meant.