Two-Wheeled Observations

I have been a serious slacker in terms of my scooter/motorcycle posts, and one of the reasons is that it's difficult to get photos of the darn things in action. I will thus do my best to illustrate that Romans can accomplish tasks while driving these vehicles that put the cell phone conversation while driving your Ford Focus to shame.

The first feat of scooter multitasking that I witnessed on the streets of Rome occurred during our morning bus ride to the Sede di Roma. While we were stopped at a traffic light, a woman on a scooter next to the bus received a call on her mobile phone, answered it, placed the phone snugly between her helmet and her ear, and drove away engaged in a hands-free conversation. No Blue Tooth necessary here. Also, it was rather amazing to think that she could hear the person on the other end of the call above the noise of morning traffic.

The second observation worth noting is that scooter & motorcycle riders travel with animals on board. "Sure," you're thinking, "there's probably a basket or sidecar thingy that one can purchase for driving with the pets." Perhaps there is such an item for purchase, but that seems unnecessary when you can ride along with your parrot on your shoulder (Jessica actually saw this one) or your dog on the footrest (I saw this in Trastevere). Because the city traffic doesn't allow vehicles to travel too fast, I suppose this animal transport system works somewhat safely. Please do not try this at home, however.