The Ape - Italy's "worker bee"
The Ape or "bee" is an amazing contraption. Especially here on the tiny island of Ortigia where sometimes the "streets" are so narrow they're the only vehicle that can be driven down them. As you can see in the photos, these things are used in an amazing variety of ways and are seen in an amazing variety of conditions, from the nearly new ones used the by the street cleaners, complete with "witches" broom to the battered examples used by vendors at the outdoor market. On a bicycle you can usually catch a good "draft" behind one if you can stand the smelly, two-stroke exhaust fumes! And if the lane is too narrow for an Ape, there's always the Vespa or "wasp" as shown here, rigged up to haul cooking gas bombole to tiny apartments.
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That first photo only lacks a pig or a goat in the bed.
ReplyDeleteLive critters don't seem to show up here, only pieces of dead ones in the butcher shops along the same market row as the fish vendors. No goats at all, live or dead, though we saw plenty of dead ones for sale in Catania last weekend.
DeleteCows, lambs, pigs, rabbits and chickens get eaten here, though all of this is more expensive than the subsidized dead critters in US supermarkets. We buy and eat meat only on Sundays unless it's a special occasion.
Neat little truck. Kind of reminds me of the Reliant Robin (only more use full), specifically when Jeremy Clarkson rolls one over repeatedly on a Top Gear episode. Have you seen any near miss roll overs from a speeding native rushing home for lunch in the Ape?
ReplyDeleteWe've seen kids get 'em up on two wheels while taking corners too fast. With only the same licensing as a moped or one of the "lawnmower" cars anyone can drive one of these and we've seen more than one decorated with racing stickers careening around a town square late at night!
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