Scooter Madness

A conversation over pizza Tuesday night:

R: I hit a guy on my scooter today.
L: What!?
K: Was he on a scooter, or walking.
R: He was walking, you know how people just walk down the street here…
L: Because there is a family of 8 having dinner on the sidewalk.
R: Yeah, well this guy was not paying attention. A car was merging over, so I had to too...and I hit him. My mirror hit his arm. Hard enough to turn my mirror around.
K: Did you stop?
R: I went back. He was pretty angry, but all I could say was dui bu qi. He finally got tired of talking at me and waved me on.
K: Yeah, a blue truck* knocked my mirror off the other day. I had to pull over and run out in traffic to get it.
F: I remember one time, I was driving in the mountains and I forgot to put down my kickstand when I stopped. My scooter fell into a canal. I just stood there like "what happened". I had to wait on a guy in a blue truck to drive by and help me pull it out.
K: Did you hear about Lina’s first wreck? She gave it too much gas and plowed through this table of two guys enjoying their tea at a sidewalk café…
F: I never drive in the scooter lane. It’s just too dangerous.
L: Guys, listen to us. This is not normal…

Laura was right to bring some sense to the conversation. Taiwan driving has this way of shifting one’s idea of normal way to the left. It’s time leave and to pass the Green Peace (my scooter) on to someone else.

*Almost without exception, all trucks in Taiwan are blue. Pickups, flatbeds, concrete…all trucks. The same color blue. I’m not sure what it’s about. But blue now says to me “watch out, I drive irrationally"