After being in the storybook tidy Netherlands for a week, I am startled by how litter-strewn Seattle is and by how many people spent a cold night in the hard nooks and doorways of my street last night. Perhaps Seattle could hire the destitute to sweep the streets.

In Amsterdam the street sweepers use twig-bunch fairy-tale witch-style brooms. I also saw an awesome little vacuum truck with a protruding suction hose that the garbage men use to suck the contents out of public trash bins.