Wheel barrow races across the living room floor were a nightly activity with Dad and my siblings in my early childhood. It took strong arms and a will not to laugh or fart, which would cause the barrow and handler to collapse in a heap on the floor, inciting other competitors and spectators to pile on.
It was years before I made the connection between that two-person transport and the real wheelbarrow Dad used in the garden. I was a little slow connecting the visual.
An odder visual I had of wheelbarrows occurred during my short visit to a small village on the coast of Turkey. Early one morning as we wandered, the market was just beginning to come alive with vendors slowly and deliberately swinging wide the doors to their stalls – just so – and hanging their richly colored goods on the makeshift walls.
We stood patiently on a side road, taking in the scene, then I approached the first stall.
Suddenly a small tractor with a front loader attached rounded our corner and sputtered past us. It looked like the one in this picture (click on picture to enlarge it):
Seated in the now-upright front loader were three women – one elderly and two middle-aged – all with colorful head scarves but dull, shabby clothing, clinging tightly to the edges of the loader as the tractor rumbled over ruts and rifts in the dusty dirt-hardened road. An elderly man wearing a beige-colored robe squeezed onto the driver’s seat alongside the younger male driver who was dressed in brown pants and heavy, dark green jacket.
I flashed on our childish wheelbarrow antics from so many years ago. As odd as the scene in front of me appeared, I knew this was their normal mode of transportation, and I wondered how I would fare if “barrowing” was my only option for transport.
bemuzin 
Comments on: "W is for Wheelbarrow" (18)
Your comment on trying not to fart really made me laugh
I knew it would, you nut!
winks….it really gave me vivid images…if i could conjure a cartoon of that i would
Great post, I love reading about your travels! x
Thank you, Lainey. I like yours too. Even trips of a few miles make great stories!
I love all those pictures! What fun memories. 🙂
Thank you Kirsten!
What a fun memory. We used to have races at church events. My cousins in Texas often rode in the tractor bucket to and from the field but certainly not as their only means of transportation. The colorful stall in your pictures makes me want to touch the fabrics.
As kids, we did like riding on farm equipment, like you, at Uncle Louie’s.
When my parents built their house (the home we grew up in), there was tons of yardwork that needed to be done. One of my favorite childhood memories was riding in the metal wheelbarrow while my Dad transported dirt from here to there. So much fun!
It was fun ( most things with my Dad were fun!) thanks for sharing your memory.
Have always wanted to visit Turkey it’s one on my bucket list. Loved this cheeky post 🙂
We only had the day there, but it was a trip highlight – saw my first pomegranate tree.
Turkey is on my travel wish-list, too! It sounds like you have some great family memories – glad to see they were triggered by this fun W musing! 🙂
I would like to visit Istanbul, but it might happen only in my dreams. If younger, i would definitely put it on my list.
We used to have wheelbarrow races when we were children, and yes farting was the cause of much hilarity and failure 🙂
🙂
That’s funny! Strong arms indeed, and tight butts!