I love les camions poubelles!

One of the very first lessons you should learn upon your arrival to Paris is never to rent a flat on the first floor... ever. Not only for the obvious reason of traffic noise at all times of the day BUT for a reason you usually don't discover until you have actually lived in Paris! The green garbage trucks! Yes, les camions poubelles de Paris start collecting their 3000 tons of rubbish every day at 6am in the morning!!!!

If you are lucky you have a concierge or a gardienne who will wheel out the garbage cubes every morning. If you are on good terms with her, she will do this quietly BEFORE 6 am, if she decides she has a problem with the behaviour of one of the inhabitants of "HER" building she can do this with an enormous amount of racket!

Over many decades I have always complained about these garbage trucks until the other day they went on strike and suddenly the city's image took a whole different turn. It was a sad sight and the smell was not too appetizing either...

So, I might still get stuck behind a garbage truck once in a while when trying to navigate the city by car but after having seen what a difference they make, I will never, ever complain about them again.