Somebody moved in. A very particular somebody has taken up
residence on the rive-gauche of the Baye de Montreux. We have a history with that particular
somebody, I will start from the begining.
On June 14 we decided to take an initial
inventory of the rive-droite of the Baye.
There were a few people on the lawn chairs that are up against the
stonewall.
After a few minutes of sampling a tall, fit
sun-tanned older age man (60’s) approached Shannon. He asked the usual questions :
« Pourquoi tu fais ça ? »
« Êtes-vous bénévole ? »
To which Shannon replied directly to the
second question « Non, je ne suis pas bénévole. Je vends les t-shirts pour financer notre
projet. » and went right back to work.
He tried to engage Shannon in english, but she remained focused on her
work so he wandered off back to his lawnchair.
He was accompanied by a another man, with a
trimed beard, round in the middle and
average height, they were eating lunch and talking about local
politics. The tall guy was eye-balling me
as I was working my way down the beach ; it was just matter of time before
he would make his approach.
When you pick up trash at an urban lake
front you get used to being both ignored and watched at the same time. Every once in a while you get approached and
they speak to you. They open up to you
and express their « desire for a cleanner world », « thank you »
for what you are doing and some even get in there and pick up trash with you !
« Vous faites quoi là ? » He
asked as the distance between us got down to a few of meters.
« On ramasse les déchets et ensuite ils
sont triés et comptés » I replied « vous pouvez voire vous-même sur
plagespropres.ch »
« Mais…vous êtes des
bénévoles ? Vous faites dans quel but ?» I could tell the tall
guy was not having any of that « cleanner world » bullshit nor did he have any
intention of « thanking » me for my efforts.
« Nous aimerions que les rives du lac
soient propres et non, nous ne sommes pas bénévoles » I looked down and started
to sort the trash we had collected thus far, he moved in to have a closer look.
Standing over me, his hands on his hips, he
continued the line of questioning « À quoi ça sert ? Je suis
reconnaissant de vos efforts mais vous savez ça ne sert à pas grand
choses. » then he added « Si tu veux vendre les t-shirts tu ferais
mieux de les offrir directement au gens, c’est ça que tu veux non ? Gagner
de l’argent ? Tu viens d’où ? » He had crossed the line, so I stood
up.
Taking a step back he drove on « C’est
le travail de la commune ça. » he added « C’est un accent canadien ?
Are you from Canada ? Why don’t you clean up your country ? »
« Je suis de la Californie, mais cela
n’as aucun rapport avec la saleté que vous voyez ici » I pointed to the
syringe and tampon appllicator that we had collected earlier. « J’aime
l’eau, j’y suis dedans tous les jours et c’est toujours mieux quand il y a
moins de déchets ».
« California ! It is very
nice. » He commented, ignoring the discarded medical devices and particle
filters from the water treatment plant. « Vous savez que de toute manière
le bon dieu s’occupera de ces déchets lors de l’apocalypse »
His comment was unprecedented, a christian
guy telling me that there was no point in cleaning the beach because god would
take care of it with the appoaclypse.
« Eh ben, on fait le travail de dieu
donc ? Si j’ai bien compris.» I said, looking at the round guy who
had been following the evolution of the conversation. « Ou peut-être nous
sommes les chevaliers de l’apocalypse ! »
That comment didn’t go over very well with
these guys. They looked at each other
and then they both turned to me.
More later…
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