Street Cleaning with a Vacuum

I regret not photographing or filming a bike mounted dual hose vacuum cleaner. The bike rider drove around and used the vacuum to suck up leaves that had fallen and banked up during the autumn. It was such an odd sight and took me a moment to realise what was happening.

The bike had two hoses. One on either side of the bike’s frame. With two hoses the rider could suck up leaves without dismounting. Whichever hose was closest to the problematic leaves was used. A clever design.

That was a few years ago and I have not seen such bikes again.

So when we visited Brussels and I saw a big street vacuum, I did not hesitate to record the moment and put together a short film.

You can watch the street vacuum in use on YouTube.

I filmed the man cleaning the streets near the European Union buildings in Brussels, Belgium. I presume, given the stickers on the machine, that these are used across the city and not just this section.