For those unfamiliar with soapbox racing: a soapbox is any ridiculous object you would not want to see on the road attached to a set of wheels, shoved down a hill and “driven” by a person until it either crosses the finish line or, more likely than not, crashes into a barrier and falls apart.
Yesterday,
(Gravity has historically been suspect: a 16th century man, Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi, reportedly flew a glider from European Istanbul to the Asian side. A year later his brother Lagari Hasan Çelebi is said to have launched himself in a gunpowder-propelled rocket. Skeptics might suggest hyperbole and/or opiates were involved, but there is a movie about it, so it must be true)
Despite the anti-gravity bias, thousands showed up to watch fifty-one carts race down a hill. While the cart-watching itself was a first, the habit of making up flimsy excuses to spend time outside on the weekends is a time-honored tradition.
In fact, give Turks some free time and we will spend it wandering outside for any number of reasons including (but not limited to):
- It's a nice day outside
- It’s a bad day inside
- Breaking in new shoes
- You are poor and air is free
- You are rich and enjoy watching the poor while sipping a martini
It is summertime and the living is easy- Fish are jumping and the cotton is high
- Your daddy is rich and your mother is good looking
- Anything related to football happening anywhere in town
- Something that may or may not be a public protest is forming outside
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