The Crouch End Street Sweeper

Tonight, the end of a puzzle was found. Everytime we came to Crouch End we would see this street sweeper. He was sweeping the streets at about 7.30pm. I didn't think they worked late shifts apart from in town (by this expression I mean the West End - its habit that I call it town - I learned it off my mother and I can't seem to shake it). Anyway, he is very industrious and energetic in his sweeping. He uses a narrow stiff bristled brush which isn't very many bristle-rows thick and manages to sweep up fag ends that have been squished into the road by cars and everything. I don't think I've ever witnessed a sweeper this thorough. We thought he was an oddball, perhaps an obsessive who felt it was his calling to keep Crouch End clean. Partly because he did lots of sweeping but I hadn't ever seen him with a trolley or bag to put the sweepings into and partly because of his manner of sweeping.

So tonight as we stood outside Budgens waiting for the W5 we watched him, in the gutters making nice neat piles at regular intervals. Maticulously sweeping. Getting every single little bit. And lo! he had a trolley and bags and gloves and regulation gear and picked all the bits up and... Our fertile imaginations had got the better of us. He was a regular sweeper. He did get paid for his work. And most remarkably - he was excellent at his job. And Crouch End does look cleaner for it.

The only other street sweeper I know is a Finsbury Park sweeper. He on the other hand finds most pleasure in the social aspect of his job and spends much time outside the post office chatting to passers by. He does wear a very broad grin and a wooly hat however. But his work is more about the people and less about the cleanliness of the street. Its more of an arduous task in Finsbury Park as well, I believe. There is certainly more dirty water always hanging around there. It manages to look swept but not clean if you understand what I mean.

And just because I mentioned Finsbury Park postoffice I have to mention the tall black guy who is always outside the post office before it opens with his Elvis glasses on. He's a fixture of my daily journey to work, along with the Finsbury Park Street Sweeper.