The Problem of Dog Shit in Paris
2009-11-23

There are two great social problems in Paris: dog shit on the streets, and public urination by humans. (Public urination by dogs also exists, but is not really considered a "problem".)

As an explanation for this I was told that the Parisians expect the government to clean up the dog shit for them.

Here, illustrated, you see a pristine park where in fact the government does clean up the dog shit for them. And on busy streets, men ride around on lawn-mower-like machines that literally sweep up all the trash and filth on the streets. But merde is not part of the government's domain of responsibility.

Sadly, the riding-street-sweepers have no effect on the residue of urination.Let me just add a third problem: the city's sewers are very old and so not very deep. Sometimes you can smell them on the ground. Add to this that the Metro is very old and so also rather shallow (just below the sewers I'm told). And so, there is the problem of the sewer smells in the Metro's extensive network of correspondance tunnels.

Get this though: not much public urination in those tunnels. In fact, the Frenchman would rather piss on the open street peopled with children and old ladies (I have seen this) than in the dank, remote reaches of the underground.

By this measure, les tramps New-Yorkaise are far more shy. They don't mind pissing on subway platforms at all, but you'll never see them or even drunk fratboys from NYU pissing in front of you, in mid-afternoon, on a ("smart") car (yes, I have seen this too).