Even the French are Complaining!

I wrote a while ago about the gymnastic abilities required to dodge mounds of dog feces in French streets. It's a real problem everywhere - there is no law requiring curbing dogs and dog owners just do not seem to care where they do their business. It's not an exaggeration to state that in a given street on a given day you would risk stepping on at least 6 different mounds in all sizes, shapes and age. Some are in corners by the walls but some are smack in the middle of the sidewalk. Every so often you see evidence that some unfortunate soul stepped on them, and see efforts of that person trying to clean the shoe against the edge of the curb - adding to more material for you to try to avoid. Whenever we foreigners get together, this comes up as the number one everyday annoyance of French life. 

I'm usually really good at dog-output dodging - I'd like to think that my radar is constantly at work, looking ahead at least 5 feet at any given moment. The fact that I've only had the misfortune of stepping on two mounds in my 1-1/2 year here is a testament - I think that must be a failure rate of approximately 0.000001% given the number of risks lurking everywhere. When I was in NY last time, I thought, at the end of the first day walking around Manhattan,  that something felt different - and I pinpointed it as the fact that I don't have to walk in constant apprehension of stepping on something unpleasant!

Anyway, I recently ran into this handwritten sign in a small street behind our flat:

Rough translation:

Sh*t bags...

I am not insulting you, you dog owner. I just want to add a new word to your vocabulary. We hear each other. The A.S.G (Anti-Sh*t Group)

So evidently I and the other foreigners are not the only ones in distress over this topic! Hooray to the ASG!