Boulevard Carnot, Cannes

Yesterday at the intersection where Boulevard Carnot delivers its heavy traffic into Place du 18 Juin, I saw two squeegee kids, no more than 15 years old, washing windshields of stopped cars, whether the drivers wanted the service or not. One non-customer received a gratis swirl of soap on the windshield, un-squeegeed. Another cleverly avoided a cleaning by turning on his windshield wipers. I’d planned to take photos of the boys at work this morning, but instead captured them talking to a policeman who swooped up the sidewalk on his scooter and got out a pad to write on. The officer inspected their blue bottles of soap and found extras stashed in a planter. I couldn’t determine what penalty the boys faced, but soon after the encounter, traffic was flowing without their services.

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