The famed Canal Saint-Martin in Paris was drained for the first time in 15 years, and workers cleaning it found an array of objects—including a motorcycle and a fire extinguisher.
“The full inventory is yet to be done – the fish have been evacuated and tractors will be brought in to drag away the vast number of items at the bottom,” reported the Guardian.
“But the view from the bridges already reveals an extraordinary amount of debris that has been tipped into the canal in the past decade. There are scores of Paris’s Vélib hire bikes, lots of other bikes, myriad chairs of all descriptions, at least one motorbike, supermarket trolleys, shopping caddies, public dustbins, a fire-extinguisher, a children’s doll’s pushchair marooned in the middle of the canal, street signs, umbrellas, and wheelie suitcases.”
Previous operations have turned up two shells from World War I, multiple safes, and 56 cars. The canal was originally commissioned by Napoleon in 1804 to provide the capital with goods and fresh water, reported France24.
The site in recent years has become a favorite spot of Paris’s “Bobos,” or wealthy leftwingers who gather for drinks on its banks.
There were lots of mud-caked wine-bottles and cans turning up in the cleaning.
