Public sanitation, more demonstrations and a swim...

Okay I know i've been slacking....but i've been gathering up some interesting tid bits to share with you.

I thought as my parents did that Paris (at least the streets around us) had a problem with it's street drainage system as we would often witness water gushing against the pavement and street as if there were a burst pipe somewhere. So after a few weeks I decided to ask Xavier why the local town hall isn't doing anything to fix these leaks to which he responded that nothing was broken. In fact it is their cleaning system, and since then I have noticed people dressed up in bright green outfits (usually in the morning) sweeping debris and bits of rubbish like cigarette butts and receipts into the sides into the gushing water....probably ending up in some dump? Of course to minimize larger pieces of debris getting stuck in some drain, there are also these bright green mini cars with 2 huge revolving brushes at the front, operated by another brightly green dressed person, skating along the pavements at various times during the day swallowing the bigger bits of unwanted filth. And if that wasn't enough the Mayor of Paris has recently launched an ad campaign to warn people of a 'new' fining scheme for people caught dumping in the streets from leaving unwanted household goods on the street to not picking up after your dog. There is a quite a shock factor to the ads i.e. on on you see a pile of dog litter on a beautiful sandy beach with the slogan 'Disgusting, also in Paris' To be honest I'm not sure how effective it has been - I'm still having to adjust my walking path to avoid random dog litter.

So yet another train of demonstrations are occurring whether it is against job losses owed to underperformance in these tight times or reduced funding for universities. But the question of why we are only seeing demonstrations at such publicly grand scale only in France and not every other recession affected country is interesting. Apparently in a country where the State is involved in many levels of the society and why the taxes are high as a result, the people expect a quick and painless solution...and they make sure that their message is clear to the State – it`s almost a right to demonstrate. In a poll running up to the General Day of Action there was around 67% support for the demonstrations, even people who didn't take a day off to strike (because they had to work?) were in favor of the strike. But things can get a bit over the top too, last week employees of 3M shut the Director of Manufacturing in his office overnight following the announcement of 110 employees being laid off this year. Released unharmed, but unrelentless in their ambition to negotiate a better severance deal on departure....more talks to follow. And closer to home a couple of weeks ago, one night we heard echoes of screams and shouts outside our building getting louder and louder around 11:30pm. We peeked out from behind our curtains to see what the calamity was about, it seemed like a hundred or so students had gathered for more than a quiet stroll around our neighbourhood and along the way, shouting slogans of some form, and tipping over the bottle bank on the street. They moved on but not the images of these irritated students. Apparently, the students strikes started back in November last year due to cuts in fundings for many universities and reforms in programs and soon leading to job losses for researchers. All the while students aren't attending classes but at least they are grooming themselves in politics.

And a little gem of the day....I finally dived into the Josephine Baker pool today (pool on the Seine) – it was pretty awesome to see the regular Seine lapping its waves against the glass walls, beneath the sun piercing through the glass rooftop!

Stay positive!