Street Cleaning in the Morning

Despite what the old French chanson describe romantically about the street sweepers cleaning the sidewalks in the morning as France (Paris) wakes up, there is nothing glorious or low-tech these days for the street cleaning crew. Sharp, high-powered blasts of water scrape off the dirt and grime (and doggy droppings) from the sidewalk and wash them away into the gutters.

It was really funny though. Some French are so stubborn, even though they know that the guy there is spraying away, will insist on walking in front of him (instead of walking on the street or changing sides to walk on) and force the guy to divert the sharp spray. And then they look surprised when after he resumes his cleaning some of the spray strikes them!