a mechanical donkey…
Sometimes there are moments that are captured on camera that really tell story. I regularly see this man driving his handmade contraption around the village roads and in the hills. Often his wife is sat by his side, they are always smiling and greet everyone with a wave as they pass.
It’s not a perfect picture. The light and shade were all wrong. For me though it’s the story that it tells. The sight of these contraptions being driven around the island is very rare. All of them being driven by very elderly men. They represent a piece of the history of this island and of Greece itself. Appearing to be made from bits and pieces, probably built by the men who drive them, they were an early replacement for the donkey.
This though is also a sight that is disappearing. It seems to be the last of these mechanical donkeys in our village and in all probability this one will disappear when the owner does. The next generation have old pickup trucks.
Taken last Sunday on my morning dog walk, it doesn’t go very fast, most children would overtake it on a bike. It fits in so well with the ideal of a life lived slowly. We could all do with slowing down a little more in our lives and could learn a lot from many of the traditions in places like Greece.
We often look at traditions and don’t want things to change. Progress will happen and the tractors and pickups will take over. This Sunday I’m going to be at a fundraiser in Asklipio and a walnut festival in Dimilia and will take it slower. Where ever you are this Sunday slow down a little, take in the world around you and enjoy your day.
Wonderful! I think we all do need to slow down. I love the photo. It really is a little bit of history and I LOVE that kind of stuff!
I don’t care what’s “wrong” with this photo – I love it!
Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/10/playing-with-photoshop.html
Thank you 🙂
So nice to meet you! Found you at a Blog Hop and inviting you to mine at http://nanahood.com/this-hair-is-for-you-breast-cancer-awareness
I love the words and I think that you made the photo worked with the effect. We have lots of this in my country. A motorbike of some sort that runs on a motor of some discarded machines. These men are so amazing in reusing things that are supposed to be thrown away! #mysundayphoto
Thank you Melinda, these men are a wonderful generation making use of everything they can… where is your country?
I love this blog. I live in Alaska and nature is everywhere. We do have to stop, saver and just slow down on the rush of our day to day life. Life is over in a blink of an eye so stop and smell the beauty.
Thank you Linda, Alaska is a place on my list to visit one day, in the meantime I’m remembering to enjoy each minute we have 🙂
I love this, it is so old Greece, so real
Thank you I was just in right place a the right time…
When I was in Greece 40 years ago these were a common sight, I agree life is lived too quickly and sometimes we should just slow a little #MySundayPhoto
Oh wow, I would have loved to see Greece then, I imagine it was a very different place before the spread of mass tourism today?
It was. Very few people spoke English and most of the islands were tourist free, except for back packers. It was, and still is, a beautiful place.
I think that it is a fabulous photo – and the lighting captures the essence of the story behind it x
Thank you, I hadn’t thought of the lighting adding to the story 🙂
How brilliant, I love the editing on this
Thank you for linking up
Thank you, I don’t usually edit much but enjoyed doing this one 🙂
Hi Amanda, we still see similar contraptions around Zakynthos. There is one old chap who actually drives his from Keri to Zante town (around 14km or so). The journey must take him the best part of the day and it’s the worst thing to get stuck in traffic behind him! I always try and stop and smell the roses. Life is just too precious not to.
xx
Thanks Debbie, good to hear they are still around in different parts of Greece, I imagine there’s a lot of frustration if you’re stuck behind one!
It is a great story telling photo. I was in Sri Lanka not to long ago and a couple of times I wanted to yell out to the driver to STOP bc of the interesting things you would see.
Thanks… We spent some time in Sri Lanka there were so many times like that, we got some great images while we were there.
Yes, I know I am guilty of not taking life slowly enough sometimes. Great image and love the filter. Interestingly, I caught a glimpse of a TV documentary shot along the Ho Chi Min trail. These mechanical donkrys are still very popular in theat part of the world. #MySundayPhoto
There I was thinking these would be uniquely Greek, but I guess they are bound to be used in rural poorer places in the world. Thanks…