Sunday 8 July 2012

Rent a Tractor



As an admirer of entrepreneurial activity, my eye was caught by a new venture at the entrance to our village.  A spanking new tractor was parked next to a shabby tent. For a couple of days, a young chap sat smoking outside the tent watching the cars pass and twiddling his thumbs. Business was slow as most of the farmers in our area either have ancient tractors or dig the land with hoes. After after a week of feeling sorry for him I noticed the tractor pulling a plough in a nearby field and from then on he was out every day. As is the way in Turkey, when someone spies an opportunity, it won't be long before a replica business springs up next door.  I call it the "petrol station syndrome." It only takes one petrol station to open on a road and within a year there will be two, and then four and then eight.  It took one month for my friend to attract competition. So by my reckoning, at the beginning of 2013, we will have 4 tractors and 4 tents. Let's hope no one decides to build a petrol station.


5 comments:

  1. . . really chuckled at this one - J and I call it the 'gözleme syndrome'. What can never be doubted is the spirit of enterprise and hard work - the down side is the copy-cat mentality - Dalyan and its hundreds of boats is a good example. In the end no-one makes a decent living.

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  2. It's the same with car washes. They're everywhere now with too little business to go round. Still, they're a great place to get your rugs power hosed.

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  3. Hello! Yes, it's the same with children. If one starts a lemonade stand, soon all the other children in the neighbor are out in front of the house with a table on which sits a perspiring pitcher of lemonade, some paper cups, and a sign "5 cents a cup!" Peace.

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  4. Not to mention fishing trips at the small lake there. Jeep safaris stop too take photos. What was a dried up hole is now a major attraction.

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