October 17, 2009 – Odds and Sods #3 – La Poubelle???

My garbage can got arrested today. Our doorbell rang. Not the interior doorbell which sounds like a poor man’s cheap alarm clock and which we don’t have a clue about so that when it rings we pick up every phone, cellphone, and electronic gadget in our apartment before we realize it’s our front door… No, this was the exterior doorbell that has the video camera attached. I ran to the screen and saw that this guy was a complete stranger. I buzzed him in anyway and ran down the stairs to meet him.

Clearly my French must be getting a little better because he didn’t speak English and he was asking me questions completely out of my frame of reference. Apparently, he was from the Mairie de Paris [the mayor’s office of our arrondissement]. Somehow, the Mairie was informed that we had an illegal garbage can [la poubelle]. Apparently, all garbage cans are registered with the Mairie de Paris. Apparently our green garbage can is supposed to be blue. He was here to check on the registration number of our garbage can! Apparently every garbage can has a registration number.

What makes this very strange indeed, is that our garbage can is inside our hallway which is locked. And then it is inside a locked closet inside our hallway. I opened the closet and the agent marked down the garbage can number. He checked it against his piece of paper with the supposed registration number of our garbage can. It did not match. Busted. We have an illegal garbage can!

Now the questioning, in French, moved to who lives here, who is responsible for the illegal garbage can, yadda yadda yadda? Yes, I live here but I only rent. The owner, he lives in the States. I have a concierge but she lives in the Marais. I don’t think she has a clue about the illegal garbage can. But, wait, we do have a local concierge or person who cleans the common areas and takes care of the garbage. Would you like me to take you to her? Follow me.

I took him to our local concierge, Maria; a 70+ year old woman who lives a few doors down from us. I left after he rang the bell; no need for me to stick around. I don’t know what happened after that. I think our garbage can got arrested and is doing 5 to 10 in the Bastille. Actually, I think they are just registering our dustbin’s number. I don’t really care because what was really important to me is that I actually understood the French the agent spoke to me….and vice versa. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying I am fluent in French; not even close. All I am saying is that today, without any help, I was able to successfully communicate with a local official about an off-the-wall subject.