Morning in Venice
On logistics
Editorial note: This issue is inspired by the delightful newsletter Enthusiasms, “weekly reviews of regular stuff,” by my internet friend Jamie Burke. Subscribe here!
The boat was medium-sized for Venice, neither a teetering gondola nor a tiered vaporetto. A man in a neon green uniform stood in the steering compartment, bigger than a phone booth but not by much. In front of the compartment was a tiny crane, and it front of that was a closed metal bin that occupied most of the front of the boat, with a door popped open into its belly.
The man’s colleagues approached the boat dragging wheeled rectangular containers behind them, the metal front legs hoisted up around their waists. “Keep Venice clean,” the containers said on the side. They were filled with bags, cardboard, glass, plastic. Someone from a hotel along the small canal ran out and threw one last bag into a container.
The man in the compartment grabbed hold of the controls and the crane swiveled to life, catching the large handle along the top of one of the containers and picking it up like a picnic basket. The crane swept the container over the open door in the middle of the boat and lowered, lowered, lowered it. At the very bottom, the crane pressed down on the container’s handle, triggering its hinged bottom to open. The bags, cardboard, glass, and plastic whooshed into the boat’s belly.
The crane lifted the empty container into the air, swiveled it in reverse, and set it down with a thunk next to the canal. Then came the next container, and the next. We walked over a bridge and back into Venice’s narrow streets before the containers were empty and the boat was full.
And don’t forget to subscribe to Enthusiasms!