Oh I’m sorry, did you think you were going to sleep in on this lovely Friday morning? Well think again! It was cleaning day on my street. Where do I even start?
How about the men banging on bricks with metal tools at my front door?
Honestly, I’m not really sure what they were doing here besides making a bunch of noise. They took the bricks out, moved dirt around, then put the bricks back in. Sometimes banging them with a chisel to break pieces off so they would fit. Heath’s best guess was they were cleaning stuff from the drain grate.
Next up… the garbage truck getting rid of our vuilnis. (The two bikes there are ours. Securely locked together and to the pole!)
But as you can see there are some pretty big things that the regular ol’ garbage truck just can’t get. So a different truck with a crane comes by later to take care of that. Bye, bye mattress.
Check out this old dude’s little truck. Can you guess what his job is?
First he was seen walking around with a bucket and sponge, then he was spotted doing this:
He would be what I like to refer to as “Graffiti-Be-Gone Man”. However, it must not work on brick because I just stuck my head out the window and it’s all still there on our wall. Oh well.
So this was the next cleaning machine coming down the road… the street cleaner…
… but hang tight because we see much more of him! And that’s because a few things need to be done before the streets are truly clean. Take this guy for example:
He would be the one that takes his pointy pole there and scrapes in-between the pavers to get the weeds and such out. Then it’s time for these guys to come around with brooms and a leaf blower and move everything into the street. (Note the street cleaner close behind)
The brooms are my favorite part. For one, they’re quiet. But just look at them. A branch and some twigs. I love it!
Traffic jam. Yet another advantage of the bicycle. Cars were lining up behind all these trucks and they weren’t going anywhere soon! Oh and the street cleaner is actually turning around here. That thing could almost spin on it’s axis! Look out for my bike!
So after all the trash is on the street – thanks to pointy pole man, leaf blower dude and home-made brooms, the street cleaner comes by yet again. (He must drive up and down the street 20 plus times). But I think it does quite a good job. What do you think? Click here: Street Cleaner (Note only one side of the sidewalk has been cleared yet).
Meanwhile… the water company had a truck coming down the road. But he’s making many stops. That’s because he’s opening every water drain, sticking a tube-thing in it and sucking junk out.
Wow, this guy’s job stinks! (hee, hee) Click here to see him in action: Water Net Truck
So pointy pole man, leaf blower dude and guy with broom trade in their cleaning weapons for this:
Guy in truck slowly drives behind. The other one holds the hose and yells whenever a bicyclist, woman with stroller, etc. come walking up and obviously the other guy is pressure washing the sidewalk… and my new bike. 
So I got woken up early and dealt with A LOT of noise for about 2 hours, but hey, I bet we’ve got the cleanest street in Amsterdam!
All types of birds have to get along now.
