Market visit

On a rainy Monday morning, we visited the market in the next village, 10km (6 miles) away.

In the street, horse carts were variously in motion and parked. It really was a grey day, with sharp rain showers passing through every half hour or so. The concrete road was covered by a thin film of liquid mud, and everything on and around the road seemed to be more or less dirty.

In a yard off the village road, maize was being sold from the back of a truck. Whilst a rare hatless man covered his head with his coat in this land of hat wearers, someone else loaded a ubiquitous hand cart. A pair of horses stood patiently, rugged and warm.

Under the covered bridge opposite, the off-duty postman waited with his horse until a break in the weather. The main road through the village once was host to a succession of covered bridges, all of which had secumbed to the needs of large trucks by the 1970's.

This covered bridge is said to be around one hundred and twenty years old. It is rather beginning to sag in the middle. It has survived because it serves only a minor side road, and really is rather quaint and photogenic.

The old main timbers of the covered bridge are hand-hewn and obviously date from a past age before modern sawmills and chainsaws. Metal fittings were made by a blacksmith. There are still two covered bridges serving side roads, and one (which appears to have been relocated from the main road) crossing the river into a farmer's yard.

Going home in a rare brighter spell during the dull wet morning, a farmer was taking a cow and calf that he had bought. Both are well wrapped up against the rain. The calf is catching a ride in the cart. With this kind of load trailing, one has to remember not to trot the horses on.

Others had bought sheep as well. Viewed in the beginning of another rain deluge, these animals seem rather more waterproof. Their owners are in a nearby bar (inevitably, at the weekly market, when the men need to share news over a drink or several), and have only a couple of kilometers to get home. Even so, I expect that we, faraway dwellers, got home long before them on account of our lesser thirst.

Comments

[Laura]

The weather did look pretty dismal, but otherwise, this market day seems really interesting!!

[risingrainbow]

Amazing pictures today, I can't get over how quaint and rural this area is. It's almost like a time warp.

[Mikey]

That's a gorgeous old bridge! Those are rare these days. Such a shame, cause I think they're really neat.
Very rural out there where you are. I love being able to get a peek into the town area. Too cool!

[Callie]

I agree with Mikael, It's like looking at a time warp. Pretty cool!