One of the highlights of my recent visit to Germany was a day-trip to Amsterdam. City of canals and free puff.
Amsterdam is about a 2.5 hour drive from Düsseldorf, on the Autobahn all the way. Zum zum. At our first approach into the city, we noticed the lovely houseboats moored on the canals, and rows of tulips flanking the streets.
How pretty.
And then we noticed this:
Every street was like this; strewn with piles of litter and in some cases, lined with walls of garbage bags. The trash cans, however, were mysteriously empty.
Free association. Topic: Amsterdam. Go!
Legalized marijuana. Tourism. Bicycles. SEX. American girls gone wild. Beer in a glass at the movies. French fries drowned in mayonnaise. Look. It’s legal to buy it and it’s legal to own it. If you’re the proprietor of a hash bar, it’s legal to smoke it, but you can’t just get a joint and start puffing away; you have to smoke at home or in designated areas. I know. You’d dig it the most.
But trash? No.
The aftermath of a citywide parade? A garbageman strike?
Beats us. But, Amster-DAMN! That’s a lot of trash.
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Shee-it. When you said “And then we noticed this:” I’m like, “OK – buildings, bikes, a blurry couple, there’s a funny white pipe across half the picture what is that, maybe amstel is spelled funny, oh fuck hang on that window is open I think, and the tree does look funny – like it’s superimposed and growing out the top of that bike, I like trees, and the sky can’t really be white can it, at least the border is blue…”. Wow, I DID NOT EVEN NOTICE the trash. Or the rubbish.
I guess that proves junk is a gateway drug. Pity if there are trash cans (fuck, I’m doing it now, rubbish bins) and people don’t use them. But, from that photo it doesn’t look too bad…
I recall your last post about the trash in Cairo; it’s amazing how living abroad can desensitize us to so many different things. I lived in Japan for two years and got super sensitized to trash, but desensitized to eating animal organs. Barbecued chicken hearts? Bring ’em on.
And you were correct the first time: trash cans.
Wow – what a bummer. Looks like post-Mardi Gras!
It was definitely really weird! I have two friends who are there this week; I’ll be sure to ask them if it was still as messy. Hoping it was just the day I visited….