My street – the cleanest street in Paris

Its official. There have now been 5  – wait – make that now 6, sets of council workers that have come down my street today (another truck, this time a recycling collecting truck just came past). And I havent been here all day either. So who knows – maybe there has been more?

And what have all these workers been doing?

Cleaning. Yes, thats right. Cleaning.

For starters, garbage gets collected every day in Paris. I’m suspecting that its a historical link to the black plague. Or maybe the French are dirtier than most…. (lol, I’m starting to pick up the Anglo habit of bagging the French. Its naughty, and I dont believe in perpetuating generalisations, but its fun occasionally, and buddha knows, I need a bit of a laugh now and then for sanity).

Then, there are 2 types of street cleaners (maybe there are more):

1. Little motorised streetsweepers (smaller than cars) that somehow cram 2 men in, which has a system of scrubbing brushes underneath and a water jet-spray. I think this is meant to clean the road itself, and some of the wider footpaths. Sometimes they have a man that stands outside the truck and holds the jet-spray hose so that he can do the smaller footpaths (and get rid of all the remaining doggie “merde”). They are. however, very careful not to spray pedestrians. Today, this little van first went up one side of my street, and then this afternoon, up the other side of the street. Hello? Why was one time not enough??
2. The other type of street cleaning makes me, as an Australian, and having lived in a city with severe water shortage, absolutely sick. At least once a week (maybe every 2, but you get the idea), council workers turn on the street water pipes, at full throttle, and let the water gush down the gutters. Not just for a few minutes. For a Long Time. Then a man with a broom comes along and sweeps all the gutters and lets the dirt flow down to the drain (which I’m sure, just goes straight into the Seine). How can this be legal? To waste so much water? And then I remember: I’m in Paris. no shortage of water here…. Again, 2 sides of the street, 2 “sweep-pasts”.

Add to that the recyling truck, and that is 6 trips down the street in one day. And my street isnt even a main road.

Yes, its great that the Marie (local council) takes care of the city. Yes, its nice to have clean, garbage-free, streets. But really – 6 times down the same street in one day?

And people wonder why their taxes in France are so high. Exhibit A….