Raining in Paris

Well, the greater part of my day was pretty boring: work, IT-related frustrations, go home, eat, blog, email. However, there were two noteworthy things:

1. It was !@#$ing RAINING today. It was spitting water as I left work and went into the métro station, but by the time I was overground at Porte des Lilas (my stop), it was coming down in sheets. The exit that I usually use to go aboveground is next to a street that tends to collect huge puddles, so every time a car passed by a huge sheet of water would go tumbling down the stairs. So there we stood, huddled together at the bottom of the stairs, listening for signs of a red light at the intersection, so that we could safely scuttle upwards. The streets overground were flooded in the worst way. The curbs had 2-3 inches of fast-running water, so I had to do this crazy grand jeté with my toes pointed just to clear the water. The walkway past the construction site was a virtual ocean, and I had to finally give up and let my shoes get soaking wet. I was wearing my suede multi-colour Adidas runners. Sigh. I got home and put my shoes on the radiator and hoped for the best.
2. Today was the first round of room inspections for a few of the students staying at the residences. Obviously, I can't go into details, but I was stunned at the contrasts between how people maintain their living spaces. Some places were very organized and well-put, while others looked like biohazards. There was one room in particular that will scar me for life. *shudder*