Of particular interest to me because my mother was from the Philippines, and because during my family's single visit to Manila and to my mother's family's home turf, Sorsogon, in 1976, there were very few if any cyclists, odd for a "poor" country.* Also because I am half Filipino and love bikes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/world/asia/philippines-manila-bicycles-coronavirus.html Notable is the proximity of the buses to riders' left elbows in one of the photos, and the reported half-month's wages required for the interviewee to purchase a bike. Also notable is the need for a bulk shipment of something like North Road bars. * For all of that, Filipinos seemed to have long resisted the false axiom that a car is necessary for personal freedom. My maternal grandfather was important enough (he was certainly rich enough) to have been sought out by the Japanese invaders to head a Vichy/Quisling government in the family's home province of Sorsogon -- family hid in the jungle for 3 years to avoid this. He was indeed made provincial governor under the American occupiers after the war. Still, the family never owned a car until the US occupiers gave him a military surplus jeep when he was governor. Even when we visited Sorsogon in 1976, I recall only 1 rather small and old car owned by the extended family. sent to pick us up at the regional airpot; and these were lawyers and judges, one who turned down the position of national Chief Justice under Marcos. Hey, the US white man occupied the Philippines for 50 years after taking it away from the Spanish ("400 years in a convent, 50 years in a brothel") and brutally repressed independence uprisings. Do we get reimbursement? -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgvG_GisFZi_bKLjBesLWcUdXFneV5-SdAsi2RZ%2Bb00A3g%40mail.gmail.com.
