In Paris, it rained for 25 of April's 30 days. Visitors dreaming of Paris in the spring huddled under gray skies and umbrellas as they queued like wet rats to go up the Eiffel Tower or into the Louvre. The whole country has experienced the soggiest winter on record, with nearly twice as much rain as normal since October. And the gloom has seeped into the national mood. You can feel it wherever you go.
Shopkeepers are grumpy.
Bus drivers, peering past their constantly flapping windshield wipers, are bad- tempered. We all get up in the morning hoping for a bit of blue sky, and we all start the day disappointed. It has come to the point where even thunder and lightning are almost welcome as a relief from the monotony of straightforward rain. The national mood is bad news for the government. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has had a rough few weeks dealing with public discontent, which has spilled over into the subject of a spate of industrial lay-offs by companies that are doing well, but simply want to restructure.