The transients

So I have to say, this is my first blog and my first day blogging. I never thought I would become a blogger-not being much of a writer, but thanks to my husband's encouragement...here we are. (Side note: My grammar and spelling suck- so please excuse)

I moved to France in January -after living in Seattle for 10 years- to be with my husband while he works as a researcher in Political Science at the University of Bordeaux. I should mention that I'm 9mos pregnant and ready to pop. So my blogging may be sporadic, but there are just too many interesting things that happen here that I have to either share or at the very least get off my chest.

We can start with the most recent events of this past weekend. An episode I like to call: The Transients. Now, Im all for choosing the kind of lifesyle you want and I understand that sometimes it's not even a choice. However, you expect to see the transients in a park or at the beach-some place not near my home...I should first describe my living situation. We live in an apartment building owned by the university and used for international visiting professors and researchers. There are also general offices located in the building. It's quite modern and has recently been redone-having previously been a children's hospital. I can only guess that children in Bordeaux no longer have hospital needs -or at least not equivalent to those of the university.

There is a large quad directly in front of the complex (I'll try to post a picture at some point) where the local teens and preteens like to hang out and smoke. While this is annoying, it reminds me of my own high school days sneaking off to the local cul-de-sac to smoke before and after school -so I feel like I have to cut them some slack.

In front of the apartment is a tramway stop so we get a lot of foot traffic on the quad.

Last Thursday Seb (my husband) returned home from work and mentioned that there were some transients hanging out in front of the apartment. Ok, they're transients-which means to me that they are mobile and will probably leave soon. OH, I was so wrong. Friday morning Seb sees that they are still in front of the complex and talks to the apartment managers. The managers assure us they are aware of the problem and just as frustrated as we are...they have called the police and hope that the transients will be be in transit. Upon returning from a nice stroll in the city we see that indeed the cops must have visited because the transients are no longer located directly in front of our complex, but have now moved to the side of the building and across the street on a grassy hill. No problem for me, I just don't want to have to step over them while I'm entering my home-not to mention they look quite menacing. They look like they all just left a Sex Pistols concert -they also have about 3 dogs and 4 puppies. (The dogs liked to bark a lot a night-such a pleasure)

Saturday we decided to go to the park and enjoy the day -only when we leave the apartment, the transients are back!! What was so wrong with the grassy knoll?? Why weren't they happy there? I was happy them being there-well not happy, but at least they weren't at my front door. We decide to enjoy our day and if they are still there when we get back from the park, we'll call the police ourselves.

As we are getting on the tram for the park, we see that two of them and two of their dogs are getting on the tram at the same time. Unfortunately, I LOVE to stare at people and sometimes don't realize I'm doing it so Seb had to keep warning me to stop staring - but I ask you, how can you not??? When someone is so different from everything you know and have ever been exposed to, how can they expect you not to stare? Well, I did my best. The funny part was when one of them pulled out his cell phone. CELL PHONE, HUH??? You don't seem as much of an anarchist if you have a cell phone. Not mention, that while talking on said cell phone, he told the person on the other end he needed a sweater because he was afraid he was going to get cold that night. Um, how long have you been sleeping outside? Ofcourse you are going to get cold-YOUR"RE SLEEPING OUTSIDE. Then he said he had to go to the hospital for x-rays. Not quite the tough guys you would imagine...Oh, and we heard him telling his friends where he and his posse where sleeping. Uh,oh...that could only mean one thing-more were coming. We hoped not, but...

When we got back to our place after the day at the park-they were all there with their shopping carts, sleeping bags, pack of dogs, a stroller (????), Fanta bottles full of booze, etc. So, we called the police. Now apparently there are different kinds of police in France. The ones Seb had to call are the Municipal Police. The lady on the other end wasn't very reassuring. She said they didn't really have the resources to send anyone over but if the dogs continued to make noise or the transients were being really loud and disruptive then we could call the french equivalency of 911. Neither one of us is going to make that kind of call unless someone is dying so-definitely not for some transients! However, much to my excitement-the municipal police showed up-all two of them. I was happy-Seb said not to get my hopes up. Apparently, these guys don't have much authority. Eric Cartman they are not. So they stood around for about 15 minutes trying to look menacing to the transients, but then they just ended up leaving-accomplishing nothing. Seriously, what are two men with no guns standing around with their arms crossed going to accomplish when faced with 6 transients, all their crap, and 7 dogs. Seriously.

I should mention, that Seb, the progressive, felt guilty for calling the cops because he thinks we should live and let live. That lasted until we watched some guy poop in front of us-Seriously. In front of us, other people and his friends-while still talking to his friends- the man dropped trou and took a freaking dump!!!!!!! Wow. After that, Seb no longer felt guilty about calling the cops.

Sunday morning and we decide to head to the beach...Seb gets up to go to the bakery for breakfast and guess what?? We were right-they mulitplied over night and now there were about 10 transients lined up taking up the entire front of the apartment. They were just spread out from one end to the other. We were pissed that they had multiplied like lice over night and so decided to again call the oh so effective municipal police (we figure if we keep complaining they have to do something). Their reaction: well, that kind of sucks but sorry, we don't have the resouces to do anything about it. Are you freaking kidding me? What kind of "police" job is this that you can't do anything but stand around with your arms crossed and stare at people?* (I should note that at least they got out of their car -there's a spot here that's a major hub to party and congregate and when we first moved here in Jan. (when it was cold) the police just sat in their van shooting the shit until their shift was over-they might have gotten out to stomp their feet for circulation purposes, but that's about it-French tax euros at work -I want their job) Finally Seb was like, look they are multiplying and they have lots of dogs and ther are children that play on the quad. It's not safe. Well, once they heard about the dogs then they became concerned. Because having a dozen homeless anarchists isn't enough -no it's the dogs that are the menacing parts. The person at the other end of the phone said that the municipal cops didn't have the resources to deal with that many people but that they would call in the big guns. I still don't really understand the differences in the police here (Seb has tried to explain them to me many times, but whatever). Anyway, driving home we were betting if they were still there and if so, how many more were added to the lot. But AHA!!!!! They were gone - and not just to the grassy knoll beside the complex-they were all gone. WEEE!! No more dogs, no more smelly people, no more sleeping bags, shopping carts, skin heads, and most importantly, no more public pooping.

We were much relieved. It's interesting that the first call to the police from the landlord wasn't as effective as it might have been at home (US). Seb says that here a lot of people have to complain about something before anything is done.

I do have one more interesting story to share today...on the news the other day a man's body was found in his home -he had been dead for 3 years. 3 YEARS!!!! How does that happen?? Doesn't he have bill collectors? Neighbors? I just don't understand. Didn't he smell?

Anway, transients are gone so I'm off to read in the park behind our apartment and enjoy the sun. Have a happy day!