Because it's Sunday, and because I did it just yesterday, let me introduce to the other great invention Stuttgart gave the world, alongside the car and the pretzel - 'Kehrwoche'! /1

Stuttgart, in the 15th century, had a problem. Its geography made it an ideal town to do business, to even do a little light manufacture. However, unlike major German cities of the time, it had no river to work as a kind of natural sewer - like Munich, or Frankfurt. /2

You know how when you share a place and you avoid doing chores, and they pile up & you can't stand to do them? That was Stuttgart in 1492. Knee deep in shit.

So Duke Eberhard V of Württemberg, 'The Bearded' imposed a city law. Every week, streets needed to clear their shit. /3

So the folks in each street would take turns taking carts of shit to a stream and dumping it in. The tanners & butchers simply began chucking their waste in a creek near the castle - the length of that stream is now Stuttgart's most expensive real estate! /4

Overall, however, the system worked and it continued for centuries. In 1714, Duke Eberhard Ludwig and the Stuttgart city council decreed that every household needed to not only remove the crap in the street outside their house, but sweep it, first weekly, and then twice. /5

Kehrwoche was taken off the books in 1988, but it is still very much a real thing. You are expected to take your turn, on your assigned week, to sweep and mop the common areas of your apartment block. If there's leaves or snow outside, that's your responsibility too. /6

You will be told off if you forget. I share a building with an Eritrean family, and we know that migrants can become more local than local, if you know what I mean. The mum lets me know when it's my week! I've taken to mopping stairs with fragrant oils so she knows I'm done. /6

I didn't get it at first, but now I'm glad of it. Do your part, take a little responsibility, help keep your shit together. It may be why we've faired pretty well here in Stuttgart during the pandemic. /FIN