Turkmen Traffic Jams

When Joe came home he said that _tonight_ the traffic was bad because they were washing the streets. At first I thought this was stupid because it was cold, getting dark and Turkmen like to swerve into on-coming traffic to avoid puddles. Then Joe mentioned the street ninjas, women masked in colorful scarves who sweep with handmade twig brooms. "They weren't mopping with t-shirts and half handle mops!" I exclaimed. "No," he said, "They were on hands and knees with little scrubby things."