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Look around: bike messengers, the freewheeling mavericks whose tattooed calves and daredevil stunts once defined urban cool, are slowly vanishing from America's streets. In New York, the hub of the messenger world, the number has skidded from 2,500 during the dotcom frenzy in the 1990s to an estimated 1,100 today, according to Joel Metz, who runs www.messengers.org, the website of the International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations.ドットコム狂乱期には2,500人は居たとされるNYのバイクメッセンジャーが、現在では1,100までに激減してるっちゅうコトだから、数的には半分以下。提供されるサービス品質も考慮して、効率化の波の中での実際の需要を考えたら、妥当な線かも。
[ 出典：Bike messengers:Soft-pedalled＠economist.com ]
Paradoxically, although their long-term prospects look wobbly, the messenger subculture has never been stronger. Their grimy allure is celebrated in books, films, festivals, and even trading cards. Last year's Cycle Messenger World Championship, held in New York, drew 700 competitors from 30 countries. Perhaps this signals a resurgence. More probably, it reflects the urge to honour a tradition that is beginning to slip away.ここまで書かれてしまうと、なんだか少し寂しいような、気がしないでもない。でもこれはある意味事実だろう。消費経済の母体となる人口比率の変化、そしてその中で企業が今までと変わらない利益を確保してゆくためには、先ず川下の整理からだ。ある種のババ抜きの始まり。ま、世の中そんなもんだろと思いつつ、米国で昨今騒がれているCEOの取りすぎ/もらい過ぎ騒動なんかも含めて考えれば、「やっぱり波と言うか、栄枯盛衰があるからね」と、皮肉たっぷりにも思ってしまう。それでも最後の"slip away"と言うwordsを読んだ瞬間から、Paul SimonのSlip Slidin' Awayが頭の中で鳴りはじめたのも事実なんだが。
[ 出典：Bike messengers:Soft-pedalled＠economist.com ]
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip sliding away
I know a man, he came from my hometown
He wore his passion for his woman like a thorny crown
He said Delores, I live in fear
My love for you's so overpowering
I'm afraid that I will disappear
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip sliding away
I know a woman, became a wife
These are the very words she uses to describe her life
She said a good day ain't got no rain
She said a bad day is when I lie in the bed
And I think of things that might have been
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip sliding away
And I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again
God only knows, God makes his plan
The information's unavailable to the mortal man
We work our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip sliding away
｜by Nagarazoku : 00:01｜コメント (0)｜トラックバック (0)｜
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