Today when we were out shopping (a daily occurrence in Paris)we pased by one of the round green dumpsters used for bottles. Some idea of just how much wine is consumed here can perhaps be gathered from the picture below.
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| For your bottles |
Later a large truck will come and lift the container up, dump its contents, and then shatter the contents into shards of glass which are recycled. France is very ecologically minded and recycles far more than we do in Australia - in fact far more than we have ever considered. Oddly enough, however, there are some real gaps in the recycling mentality. At supermarket checkouts there are aisles which say that absolutely no plastic bags will be given out. If, however, you ask for "un sac" they will pass you a bundle of ten. This attempt to get away from plastic bags has moved on from when we were last here. You can now buy reusable bags very cheaply.
Because just about everybody lives in apartments here, shopping is a daily activity and most people have Les Trolleys or Les Poussettes which are tolerated in supermarkets and lifts everywhere.
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| Returning from shopping |
This morning, as we were having breakfast, we heard a bell ringing. Virginia said that it reminded her of the Rag and Bone men of her childhood. And while not a Rag and Bone man, it was, lo and behold, a knife grinder, pushing his apparatus and ringing a large hand bell for trade.
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| The Knife Grinder |
Even as we watched, someone dashed down from an apartment with a set of precious knives which could only be sharpened by a master craftsman.
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| At Work |
It took about twenty minutes and what was, for us, the most remarkable sight, was that he accepted a cheque in payment. Although we had not seen anything like this before, we have often seen chair menders who work from the various street markets.
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