Today I Learned about a Worker's Strike

I didn't have any classes today and thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to head to Lyon to check out the Christmas market there. It was the largest market I found that I could reach for a one-day trip. The day started out uneventfully. I woke up nice and early so I could catch the first train out, in the hopes that I would have enough time to visit the market and explore the city a little bit. About ten minutes into the trip an announcement came over the PA. There was currently a worker's strike and our train would be stopping at St. Germain des Fossés, a tiny village about halfway between Bourges and Lyon. They would try to find a bus or another train to get us the rest of the way. Eventually a ticket taker came around an informed us that there would be a train leaving St. Germain for Lyon about two hours after we were scheduled to arrive there. Some of the passengers were, understandably, upset. Unfortunately they took it out on the poor woman who was just doing her job. So much for "don't shoot the messenger." We arrived in St. Germain and everyone holed up in the little coffee shop attached to the train station to keep warm and to share their tales of woe. Some people missed work, others missed train connections that would take them on to other cities. One girl was even missing an exam. I wasn't too bad off. I would be down to about four hours in Lyon, but that would still give me enough time to hit the Christmas market, which was the goal of my journey. I had planned on going back another time to see Sr. Donna, a relative on my mother's side. The train arrived on time and we continued on our journey, which would have been quite picturesque were it not for the fog hanging over the region. Every now and then you could catch a glimpse of the villages built into the hillside.
I made it to Lyon and, with the help of the tramway, to the Christmas market. It was larger than the one we had in Bourges last weekend and there were many stands selling interesting trinkets and food wares. I sampled a bretzel from the Alsace region (near the German border) that tasted amazingly like our own pretzel. :o) There were magic shows and puppet shows for the children, as well as Jolly Old Saint Nick. I would have gone to visit him to ask for a white Christmas, but the line was too long. It was cold, gray and sometimes drizzly out so I opted for the shopping center instead of the town visit (none of the pictures would have turned out very appealing). I hit the supermarket and located marshmallows (with peanut butter, another fine ware to which the French have yet to succumb) so I can now make Christmas wreath cookies for the Christmas party being held by one of the assistants this Saturday. The question now is: will I be able to find red hots?
I got to the train station a little early and waited around for a bit. With about 15 minutes until the train departure time I pulled out my ticket and turned to leave. A flashing on the sign caught my eye and I turned to look. Next to my train information were the words "retard indeterminé." My train was going to be late, how late was anyone's guess. After about 30 minutes or so, I got my answer. The sign now read: "retard 40 mns." But was this 40 minutes from the originally scheduled departure time or 40 minutes from this point? Luckily it was 40 minutes from the original time and I had only 10 more minutes to wait. I passed most of the 3 1/2 hour trip back in darkness since the lights kept going out. It did make the now-lit little villages on the hillside look even more impressive. And so my journey ended, 14 hours after it began.