A few years ago I had my first car accident. I was driving down our steep, winding, barely one-lane cliff road, when I came upon a three-wheeler pick-up Ape, the bee of Italian roads. It's bad news to have an Ape in front of you, because they drive ever so slowly, and the driver is usually an elderly farmer who is totally oblivious of the rules of the road.
That day was no exception. The Ape was traveling at a painfully slow 35 kms/hr. After crawling along behind it for several kilometers, we finally came to wide place in the road where there was room to pass. The Ape steered to the right - to let me by on the left, I assumed. Wrong. He was actually taking an exceptionally wide left turn, all done in the Ape manner: no signaling, no mirror-checking. As I passed, he crashed into the right rear side of my car.
The Ape is a small, compact vehicle and, as I discovered, quite sturdy: I'd lost my back bumper and rear tail lights, whereas the Ape looked unchanged, no more or less weathered by age and hard labour than its owner. Ape pick-ups are perfect for our narrow roads, and for country use: you'll see them everywhere, the back impossibly loaded down with farming equipment or wood or construction materials, the tiny cab impossibly packed with elderly couples, children, dogs ...
This was my favorite Ape. My best friend drove it up the winding dirt road to the spot overlooking the sea, where she'd organized a surprise birthday party for her husband. The back part loaded with casks of wine he produces, and the cab packed with herself and her two young boys. It was a fun evening, a few years ago, just before she fell ill.
... this post is transporting me back in time ...
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