Crotte...
I thought that I'd talk a very short bit about a subject that I see daily in Lille. The city is covered with dog, um, 'turd'. It's really quite disgusting, and I've never seen so much in a city in my whole life. It comes in many varieties, sizes, shapes and colours (the green and red versions are the most interesting).
I think that I've gotten pretty good at hopscotch, since I have to play it every day walking through the streets here. Sometimes the stuff is smeared all over the sidewalk, when an unfortunate victim isn't looking and accidentally steps in the stuff.
They actually have guys that go through the streets at least once a week with a big water-sprayer to wash it off.
Some French people in Lille (Lillois) told me that Lille is better than Nice, in the south of France. During my Christmas vacation, I was lucky enough to visit Nice. Sure enough, Lille IS worse than Nice. Obviously they've never been down there. In Cannes, for example, they actually have guys going around on motorbikes with little hovers (vacuums) to suck up the dog crotte.
I don't want to imagine how bad this place must smell in the summer...