Thanks to one of the French national pastimes (see my blog from yesterday) I had my first Bla Bla Car experience today. Bla Bla Car is a cross between Uber and hitchhiking. It can only be used for long trips and the cost is equivalent to a share of the actual petrol and tolls that were paid on the trip. The owner/driver of the car does not get any remuneration he or she is just sharing the cost. Thus a 350km trip from Paris to Rennes cost me 30€.
Bla Bla Car is a great democratisation tool. Suddenly everybody (most people anyway) can afford to have a Chauffeur Driven ride. It is no longer a privilege of the rich! I was driven to Rennes in a Black Mercedes just like any plutocrat would expect. It is true that instead of a chauffeur in uniform and cap my driver was a tattooed Mongolian with his 8.5 month pregnant wife as a co-pilot. Also I was sharing the back seat with a Chinese woman. But these are mere quibbles. The fact remains that we now all have access to what use to be reserved for the few.
And here we see technology at its best. Instead of removing human contact, Bla Bla Car crams 3 or 4 strangers in a fast moving metal box, leaving them nothing else to do but talk and generally exchange views. What can be more conducive to building a common humanity? I can imagine a joke along the lines of : a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim and an Evangelist get into a Bla Bla Car. On arrival at their destination ... they all 4 get out. (If you didn't laugh its probably that you didn't read it with the right tone)
Fasting Day Today.
Advance warning, for my numerous readers trying to get points by fasting on the same days as me, I will also be fasting tomorrow instead of Wednesday.
Bla Bla Car is a great democratisation tool. Suddenly everybody (most people anyway) can afford to have a Chauffeur Driven ride. It is no longer a privilege of the rich! I was driven to Rennes in a Black Mercedes just like any plutocrat would expect. It is true that instead of a chauffeur in uniform and cap my driver was a tattooed Mongolian with his 8.5 month pregnant wife as a co-pilot. Also I was sharing the back seat with a Chinese woman. But these are mere quibbles. The fact remains that we now all have access to what use to be reserved for the few.
And here we see technology at its best. Instead of removing human contact, Bla Bla Car crams 3 or 4 strangers in a fast moving metal box, leaving them nothing else to do but talk and generally exchange views. What can be more conducive to building a common humanity? I can imagine a joke along the lines of : a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim and an Evangelist get into a Bla Bla Car. On arrival at their destination ... they all 4 get out. (If you didn't laugh its probably that you didn't read it with the right tone)
Fasting Day Today.
Advance warning, for my numerous readers trying to get points by fasting on the same days as me, I will also be fasting tomorrow instead of Wednesday.
Perfect. I didn't fast today but was planning on fasting tomorrow as I'll be travelling in a bus all day. Which should get me points for fasting AND for reading your blog from a new country.
ReplyDeleteBlablacar is great I use it all the time. Get people to pay for my petrol.