They’re serious about their sweeping in Indonesia. They do a lot of it. Seems it’s the first task on the day’s to-do list, and many’s the morning I’ve been awakened in Bali and Lombok to the whisking sound of some industrious soul hard at work moving dirt from one place to another. Most days I am awakened by the scraping noise of a broom or the maddening crow of a rooster. Not ideal, but superior to and later in the day than my alarm at work. They broom everything here. Tile, wood, concrete, stone, and bamboo floors. Even dirt. Yep, they sweep the dirt paths, yards, and roads in front of establishments for no other reason I can discern than to leave neat little broom tracks as evidence of a well-kept area.
They’re not using some sort of fancy store bought brooms, either. We’re talking about a bundle of sticks or reeds lashed together at the top. Think witches’ broom, minus the stick in the middle. Why minus the stick in the middle? You got me. The half stooped posture one must adopt to drag a bundle of foot long reeds around on the floor makes absolutely no sense. Unless there is some facet of broom technology I am missing that would not allow a handle to be incorporated into the middle of a bundle, it seems like you’d want to be able to stand up to broom, right? As long as you are taking the time to make a broom, for posture’s sake, tie a handle in there. Even hunch-backed, broom riding hags have a handle on their broom; not only easier to ride from a magical point of view, but, on a more practical level, it gives the hunch a break being able to stand up straight while tidying the front porch in preparation for the next set of children lost deep in the woods. Plus it gives a little leverage when taking a swing at a pesky rooster.
