The French like Scooters

and they are as common as Wisconsin squirrels. So the little kiddies here love to wheel on their scooters. It's hard to miss them in Paris, because these fast paced frenchies are up and down the sidewalk, they're in the metro, they are chained to nearly every fence within a school zone, they're zooming right next to you to catch your breath and mutter to yourself "where did he just come from". At the college and lycée I teach at (middle and high school), parked scooters dominate the fence. At first I wondered why this trend is so popular. I've noticed cheap rental bikes at nearly every neighborhood I go through, so what's with the 90s fad? I got to thinking and I wonder if it is because these children have never had the opportunity to learn how to ride a bicycle. Being in a city, many apartments don't have driveways. And even if they had, I'm sure it's not a safe place to have your six year old learning how to ride. Luckily enough for me, I had a circular driveway to practice and sizeable circular neighborhood for me to master the tricycle during that period of blood, band-aids, and smiles. It's kind of sad for me to think that it might be difficult for kids to learn how to ride a bike. And if they did know how to ride, should they be riding around in the city? Probably not. Madison alone makes my 21 year old self nervous as a timid turtle. My own brother got hit by a car in madison and I actually saw a brave and seemingly unhurt dude get hit by a car on University-but he just picked up his somewhat damaged bike that was laying on the cement, threw it over his shoulder, and walked away. So scooters seem like a safer option because for the most part-they're sidewalk friendly. for the most part.
okay, back to the scooter scouts. Like I said, biking is more popular among the adults- and maybe tourists (however, in order to rent the bikes, you need a French/European credit card). So I have a better chance at swiping a scooter from some child than riding a bike. Makes me sad again-although I really don't get sad anymore- because I want the wind to blow in my hair and this song humming in my head.