On the way home from the Gare de l'Est, I had a angry cab driver. Everything made him mad. I didn't want to get into a conversation so I didn't tell him which way to go, which was a mistake. He chose an impossible route and at ten o'clock at night we were stuck in a traffic jam behind two garbage trucks at the Porte Saint-Denis. 
"It's the mayor's fault, il s'en fiche de nous, he's destroying this city!" he raged. It is true that the mayor is purposely narrowing a lot of streets and just generally making life hell for cars, just like the mayor of London (they are both non-drivers). To change the subject, I mentioned that in Germany, almost all taxi drivers drove Mercedes. "When I asked one driver why, he answered that he couldn't imagine driving anything but a Mercedes in that job." The German driver meant that other cars didn't stand up to the day-to-day abuse.
He nodded approvingly. "I admire the Germans. They have la solidarité and buy their own cars. We French are completely different. Look at all these taxis—Toyotas, Hyundais! The French, madame, they have no discipline. Look at this disorganized traffic! They lack respect. I do not consider that I am typically French. You are better organized chez vous, n'est-ce pas? Vous êtes britannique?"
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