changing times

On Monday I stood on line at the Voltaire metro station to add another week's fare to my Navigo card. The line was long and slow and it took forever. Why? Because there were two gypsy kids standing over the fare machines and hovering over the customers while they inserted their Navigo passes and their credit cards into the machine. Most of these patrons were loading up their Navigo cards with fare for the month (November).

I've never seen Romany kids in my neighborhood before. I've also noticed more homeless people than the last time I was here, too. No one wanted to do their transaction with these kids hovering over them, but no one was able to get rid of them. The woman who worked in the fare window told them to go away and they just laughed at her. Then a male worker yelled at them, and again, they didn't leave.

Nothing short of the police could have gotten rid of them, but the police -- ironically -- were busy standing inside the corridors making sure that everyone's Navigo passes were current and trying to catch fare jumpers. Meanwhile, the passengers were being intimidated by these kids who were trying to grab their money while they updated their Navigo cards. Nice.