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and here again with a dust cart
i'm thinking they may be taking the cleanliness concept too far
isn't the whole idea of the eco-thing that you think of more than just yourself ? so i wonder whether treat yourself to eco cleaning is really the message to be encouraged ? or is it just a stealthy way of attracting the eco-refuseniks ?
poor old henry. he's fallen love with a wheely bag. he comes down on to the street and watches her go by every morning.
i explained to this chap why i was taking a photo of his jacket and cleaning trolley reflected in a puddle but i think he thought i was a general nutter. shame really.
this street cleaning trolley looked good from a distance
and looked even better closer up
it was probably thanks to the tellytubby who was helping out
this street cleaning trolley has been souped up (notice the racing wheels) and as a result regulations demand airbags are installed. here we see one in operation.
here is a gum buster. which reminds me, i'm going to the dentist on friday. yuk.
look at this vacuum cleaner causing chaos. it's stamped on the slippery floor sign and is running away from the carpet.
can you believe i've still got some olympic pictures to show you ? this is one of a chain of slope cleaners working their way down the slalom course.
in the days before dyson ...
the poop collector at the dog races
the art of photography is spotting something which is about to happen and grabbing the moment as it does with your camera. if you are photographing a glove that can be quite easy.
here i saw three cleaning trollies heading for a zebra crossing and i though "aha, abbey road
so i starting taking my photos to capture the moment they all went in a line
and just as they did, two mopeds turned up to block the view
and before anyone says anything, yes, i know there were three of them, and they were pushing cleaning trollies and there was a central reservation and they were heading right to left, not left to right, and it's not actually on Abbey Road.
it was never going to be that beatles cover was it. oh well.
here is a gum busters trolley. the helium balloon simply adds to the fun of gum busting
further up the street were hundreds of little gum scars, zapped away by the high pressure gum busting jet
what a great collecting device
after yesterday's set up shot, here's some actual spontaneous church cleaning
there's probably something spiritual here about going to church and cleansing yourself, or maybe getting rid of the rubbish in your life. i'm sure there's a good pun i'm missing here though.
another photo from peter on his budapest travels.
guess where i've been for the last couple of days ... plenty more picture to come
these blue cleaning buckets have got the word lady drawn on them a what looks like a lady bird. how mysterious.
clothes horses are called clothes horse because they use to be made out of real horses. prior to that people used to put their wet clothes on a horse and let the horse dispose of them sensibly.
i like the idea of a lorry driving round this great nation cleaning the streets. wherever there are soiled streets, they will be there. hooorah.
the stealth cleaner (with bright yellow bits)
and another one in the background
curling is a funkypancake sport. not because i'm good at it though, because i'm not.
look at his utility bin.
beyond brushes, which are an essential part of the game, you also get to wear the most fantastic shoes.
initially they looked like normal trainers:
but you can pull the rubber bottom off (called a 'kipper') and reveal a super-slippy teflon sole, enabling you to whizz about on the ice like a mad thing
and look at all the other gadgets and gizmos you can get:
at first it wasn't clear what i could see, but i knew it was going to be good:
a rival white cleaning company wanted to stop the green cleaners from cleaning their patch. rather like the great ice-cream wars, these chaps are fiercely protective of their patch
in the end the chap from the white van ran out and physically stopped the green one from going any further.
they became bin lorries.
i've noticed many of the dust carts i pass have had new liveries (paint jobs). this one hasn't.
we have ralph to thank for these pictures from austria.
it's the wonderfully titled 'multipoo'
the cleaner on the left is eating a sandwich whilst watching the other cleaner removing a massive pile of litter on the other side of the road.
here are some turkish bin lorries (sent by john)
here are three brushes i saw earlier in the week (on the same day i saw the spade in the shade)
brushes were all over london yesterday too. here's a few that i saw
bollards and sweeping trolleys. that's the plan.
i took this photo at the beginning of june. since then unaccompanied rucksacks have become objects of suspicion in london. how i long for those innocent days.
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i recently decided to stand by a roundabout and take a few pictures. here are a few of them featuring big vehicles
double decker
bendy
olympic bid
bin lorry
if you run out of sponges you can always use bread rolls as seen in this picture.
this pile of hoover heads was out in the street all day long.
i know they probably aren't 'hoovers', but vacuum cleaner heads didn't sound so good.
i'm still enjoying the new Dr Who series on the modern television. are you ?
and what kind of a name is 'mustang' for a vacuum cleaner anyway ?
this bit of road is significant as it's where the marathon finishes. my feet remember it well.
last week as i crossed it i saw all these royal guards horses.
that was interesting, but not as interesting as the vehicle which was following them:
i managed to cross the road between the horses and the royal pooper scooper and got this photo looking back towards buckingham palace (where the queen was in residence):
i was pleased to see some old friends had come to watch the marathon to spur me on
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if you won't do it for us, then will you do it for the cleaners ?
of course, if you've got a Daimler like this you can ignore signs like this as they are only applicable to peasants.
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how embarrassing. you dress up to go to work only to find someone else is wearing exactly the same clothes, right down the flourescent tabard and dust cart.
bloke on right: where did you get your jacket trim from ?
bloke on left: i swapped it for my hat down the depot
are you sure we're being paid by the window and not the building ?
it's a bit of a pane but someone has to do it.
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look at this beauty, sent to me by a chap called mark
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i pass quite a few laundrettes in every day life. it's funny how laundrettes and petrol stations are invisible in town unless you really look for them.
one day i'll do a photo tour of them, but for now, here are some underpants (nearly) in the bin in a laundrette.
who put them there and why ? surely you'd throw them in your own bin if you decided they were too dirty to wash ?
oh, the fun you can have:
but tony didn't seem too impressed:
what if it really were made of fairies. that would be a bit of scandal wouldn't it ?
how many bin bags can you fit in a cleaning trolley ?
lots. that's how many.
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taken just along the street from this one
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click to inspect in more detail
it's mum, dad and baby bin.
look at this one. three categories in one - cleaning, a door and a slippery sign.
invisible mending always strikes me as a strange concept. how do you prove the work has been done ?
and is deluxe invisible mending even more invisible than normal invisible mending ?
selling such mending on a wholesale basis is even stranger. are their shelves lined with brown boxes containing nothing but invisible mendings ?
it all seems a bit emperor's new clothes to me.
street cleaner driving by the This Morning TV studios (which were broadcasting live)
this street cleaner moved to the side slightly when it saw me taking a photo. when i squeezed by to get past he switched on his little side water yets and wetted my shoes !
i spotted this chap last night standing by a street cabinet. he had his laptop and a little TV screen so i wandered round behind him to see what was going on.
this is obviously the control point for one of the congestion cameras and there was a bloke up a ladder somewhere cleaning the camera.
where i was standing it was a like there was a little man trapped in the monitor giving the window a clean with a wet cloth.
most peculiar
this man has a great little vehicle. i saw him approaching and signalled that i'd like to take his photo.
so he stopped next to where i was standing, waited until i got the photo, then moved on his way.
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it's a street cleaner's trolley, a big big and two smaller bins and a one way sign. a lovely tableau.
i was lucky enough to have to go to Ipswich today for a meeting. if that wasn't excitement enough, i spotted this fantastic cleaning device.
notice the articulated driver's standing section which moved independently from the main vehicle giving it a nice roman chariot feel.
look at all these wheelie bins gathered in this street. i'm sure they're up to no good. especially that one with the yellow x on him.
but maybe i've misread them. perhaps they are charity do-gooders arranging a plan to tidy the neighbourhood.
i really must learn to look at things more open-mindedly.
a high number of dustcarts seemed to be a bit broken this morning. i suspect sabatage at the depot.
here is a most bizarre thing. rather than opening the flap of a lid on a wheely bin, someone has sawn round the top.
that's a bit like using an old fashioned tin-opener on a can of coke.
this bin made me laugh with its multiple bin pile up and jaunty lid.
this man has a giant street paint eraser on the end of a pipe. here is a picture which you can click for teeny weeny video.
yes sir. we've arrived in the 21st Century.
see the twin storage compartments. how like a cow.
i felt a need to walk to work down Oxford Street today, so i did. i'm guaranteed more photos going that route, but it's a bit noisier than my usual backstreet amble.
one thing you can be sure to see at this time of morning is street cleaners. here's a water squirty one:
and here's one being mended:
i was chased down the street by this cleaner this morning as i stopped to take pictures of all the food and drink related rubbish i saw. i was happy in the knowledge that it was all being cleaned up, but i think mr street cleaner was worried i was going to report him for not being fast enough.
we've not had a street cleaner for a while so here is one in the shade on the South Bank
here is a street cleaner and a bus in the rain. i think it looks nice so i've given you a big version you can use as your desktop picture if you like.
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just when i thought i'd seen them all, here's another type of street cleaner:
there was a standoff between the automated cleaner on the right and the pushalong cleaner on the left.
by the time my camera had booted up they were on opposite sides of the road (the pushalong cleaner had pushedalong).
still, a nice street tableau i'm sure you'll agree.
this must be how bees see street cleaners
you'll be aware of my love of street cleaning machines. here is one refuelling.
a floating street cleaning device
here is a strange thing. the driver of the fancy road cleaners is seen here collaborating with a lowly pavement cleaner. incredible. especially since the leaves incident
here are two more cleaners to add to the hierachy (one a the top, one at the bottom)
there is a secret hierarchical structure in existence on the streets of london. it relates to street cleaners. i like street cleaners and always shout a cheery hello to them on my walk to work. sometimes they even reply.
here is the starting point - a brush and a trolley on wheels:
once you have earned an upgrade you get a pushalong jobby with brushes. (some of these have seats which is a feature upgrade i think)
finally, when you have actually made it, then you get to drive in a proper machine with a windscreen and everything. this is a temporary vehicle. (maybe it moonlights as an occasional table)
i've noticed that a lot of the push along street cleaners now have seat attachments. here was one seemingly abandoned in the street. i looked at the dials to see if it had a maximum speed, but none of the dials showed velocity (only fuel and time !).
Maybe there is a distance measurer somewhere and the driver has to do his own velocity = distance/time calculations. Those guys who clean the street - they are all secret rocket scientists. perhaps.
here is a street cleaning cart. this one is special because it is a convertible. ideal for those warm summer months (or crisp october mornings)
and here is a steam roller. i ran across the road in front of this one (it wasn't moving very fast) but i did wonder what would happen if i tripped and fell in its path. i imagine they don't do emergency stops very well.
notice how the steam roller is stopped at these traffic lights. if you are driving a steam roller you don't need to stop anywhere.
and where's the steam anyway. why do they keep messing with stuff
i went to Reading University this morning and my friend Andy spotted all these devices. i've seen them before of course, but never in this number
