While reading the newspaper this morning, one particular quote from Alain Juppé, the recently re-elected Mayor of Bordeaux, made me chuckle and then made me wonder.Quoted in an article about a new campaign group being set up in the city to fight against the littering of the cities' streets with dog's mess, Juppé said: "Slipping on a dog poop the day of an election could change a vote". ("Glisser sur une crotte de chien le jour d'une election peut changer un vote")
But could it? Everyone's suffered it at one stage; perhaps no more so than the French.
Having pavements coated in dog pooh is often a common perception of France, and in certain parts of Bordeaux this is almost certainly the case. In the Saint-Jean area of the city, where visitors arrive in the city from the train station or are dropped off by the bus from the airport, the problem is especially bad.
It is almost impossible to drag your suitcase along the pavement without encountering the stuff or having to cause mass discontent by shaloming around it all. Not the best thing to welcome visitors to the city...
It is because of this that a group of local residents have set up a campaign group that campaigns for less dog pooh on the pavements. One member of the Comité "Anti-caca", Eric Lepage, is quoted in today's Metro as saying: "All we ask is that the city's streets are as clean as they are beautiful, so you can admire the building facades instead of having to watch where you walk!" ("Nous demandons que les rues soient aussi propres que belles, qu'on puisse admirer les façades au lieu de regarder où on marche!")
According to the group, more than 30 tonnes of dog pooh are removed from the streets of Bordeaux by the council every year. In a bid to reduce this staggering quantity, the council have this year provided 150 special bins and have introduced a maximum penalty of 450Euros (approx £300) for repeat offenders. They are clearly treating this as a serious issue.
And so they should, tourists don't want to arrive in a beautiful city only to find themselves constantly looking at the pavements. Tourism is such an important industry for the city, but it remains to be seen whether stepping in dog's mess could change a persons vote. And while it would probably be quite unusual for a candidate to speak of these such issues while campaigning, maybe they should so to avoid being defeated and then finding themselves, as they say, in the merde.
NB: Note the date of this article...
