Things I can't take pictures of in Paris

Dog shit. Everywhere. Everyone seems to have a little dog (to match there little apartments, I assume), and little dogs make little messes that don't always get cleaned up. In Paris, it seems they often do not.

The way the French throw their garbage in the street. I don't mean their sacs of rubbish, but the paper cup they just finished their coffee from, their cigarette they barely started smoking. I've seen it in other countries, too, like Italy and Scotland, the nearly derisive fling of the offending piece of trash into the gutter. At night, water flows down the curbs of the street, rinsing everything away. I do love the practice of washing the street--seeing women scrubbing the wooden doors down, men sweeping the fronts of stores. It seems somewhat (oh, I can't think of the word) devotional, the cleaning of spaces. But it also reflects the need to clean, when the air is so filthy and the streets are filled with litter. (Nothing, however, compares to China...)

Along La Rue Magenta, there was a tarp city of migrants postered with "No papers, no rights". I was considering going down to talk to some of the people who looked as if they were trying to organise them, but the next day I saw on the cover of 20 Minutes that the police had finally acted on their long-standing plans to clear the squat out. Cycling by, most of the faces I saw seemed African; I do wonder at the story behind it.

The number of people who have disfigured limbs--either by accident or by birth-- who beg along the streets is almost unnerving. In the mornings, I see them arranging their deformed limbs on pillows and blankets, asking passers by for change. I don't know if it is just the area that I've been in, but most of the people I've seen begging have been Muslim, judging from their attire. I need to read up on my recent French history... The people--mostly men--of European descent who aren't always begging, tend to be men, tend to be intoxicated, and tend to be really aggressive and angry. I'm glad I don't understand what they are saying.