Monday, October 02, 2017

stringing us along


Sometimes, I think I have lived here too long.

I followed this taxi for about two miles before it even occurred to me to pull out my camera to share the sight with you.  You do not see a taxi topped with a white bass fiddle every day of the week.

Of course, around here, you do see practical solutions to transportation problems almost every day. My favorite is the full-grown bull or horse in the back of a small pickup truck.

But this was my first bass fiddle sighting. Usually, musical instruments are transported around town as God intended them -- in the hands of roving musicians whose need for financial support far outweighs their musical talent. Whenever tourists are in town, groups of minstrels are almost everywhere. Especially, on the beach.

I assume that the owner of the bass fiddle needed to be somewhere not within foot power. Of course, it would be almost as easy to imagine it being carried on the back of one of those small motorcycles that transport a large group of friends or family members.

But Mexico is not the only place I have seen images like this. I have run across instrument cases on top of cabs in New York City. Mattresses on top of cabs in Barcelona. Chairs on top of cabs in Cairo.

Those solutions make perfect sense. If you do not have access to a truck and you need to move a large object. taxis seems to be the practical solution. And Mexicans certainly are a practical people.

It makes me wonder whether Uber provides similar services. Having thought of it, I imagine it does. Even though my Uber experience has usually been in vehicles smaller than that bass fiddle.

For some reason, that photograph seemed to be a good way to start the month. After all, the Denmark trip is quickly slipping up on me.


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