Heard and Seen from the Balcony
It’s 7:20 p.m. on Sunday evening (6/28), we’re sipping wine on our balcony and hear a clop-clop-clop sound. A man and a woman are driving by in a cart pulled by two draft horses–maybe Percherons?–and for a second I think the horses might spook as a car approaches in the opposite lane. And then I come to my senses–it’s not 1909 and horses are used to automobiles. Just below the balcony a boy holding his father’s hand walks by and cranes his neck to take in the unfamiliar sight. Loud as a bell I hear the young boy exclaim, “Maybe they don’t have a car, Dad!”
The woman is holding the reins the whole time, including when they reverse direction at The Triangle and head west on Route 28. Interestingly, John surmises that the woman is undergoing a training experience, and the man sitting beside her, like the typical driving school instructor, is looking relaxed (possibly feigned) and observing her. We are watching, in his take on it, a training experience. I, on the contrary, perceive her a an experienced horsewoman and driver and the man a companion just along for the ride. Does this tell you something about male and female perceptions of female competence? Or maybe John picked up cues that I missed. Anyone know the real story?
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