Mexico’s 300-Year-Old Music Party

The company rents electric bikes and scooters.

The average number of users each month rose by 31 percent.

Almost 700,000 people used the service each month.

That is a very large number of riders. What happened to Lime’s sales and profit?

Sales rose by one third in 2025. They reached 148 million pounds.

Profit also grew a lot. It rose from 1.7 million pounds to 4.7 million.

The company added more than 4,500 bikes and scooters.

So there are more riders and more vehicles. Did Lime start work in new cities?

Yes. Lime now has almost 38,000 vehicles in the UK.

It started work in Oxford and Nottingham.

The company already worked in London, Milton Keynes, and Salford.

Does this growth mean Lime has many workers?

No. Lime had 54 direct workers in 2025. The year before, it had 39.

It uses self-employed workers to move and fix the bikes.

There are also safety worries. Some riders and people walking have been hurt.

What is Lime doing about safety?

Lime recently started bringing in a smaller bike.

Its battery is closer to the back wheel.

The change follows criticism about safety.

More people use the service, but safety is still important. Thanks, Mia.

A music tradition from 300 years ago is growing around the world.

Now we go to Liam, LinguaWire’s culture correspondent.

Good morning, Daniel. The tradition comes from Veracruz, Mexico.

It is called a fandango.

A fandango is a happy event with music, singing, and dancing.

People meet and play music for many hours.

What does a fandango look like in Veracruz today?

Musicians play on a wooden platform.

A woman dances and hits her heels on the wood.

Other people sing, clap, eat, and watch.

As the night continues, people in the audience join in.

The small group becomes a much larger group of musicians.

That sounds like a party where everyone can take part. What is the main music called?

The main music is called son jarocho.

It is the traditional music of Veracruz.

The musicians use a small guitar with eight strings.

They also use unusual instruments.

One instrument is made from a donkey’s jawbone.

A player scrapes its teeth and hits the bone.

This makes a rattling sound.

And the famous song “La Bamba” is part of this tradition?

Yes. In Veracruz, “La Bamba” is very important.

The clock tower plays it every hour.

At one event, about two dozen musicians played it together.

The song continued for fifteen minutes.

Is fifteen minutes a long time for this music?

Fifteen minutes can seem short there.

One musician says a song can continue for an hour.

At large events, there may be 80 musicians.

So this old music is still active. People can join in and play together. Thanks, Liam.

Now, let’s review three useful words from the music story.

music

Music means sounds made by singing or playing instruments.

In the story, people played music together for many hours.

I listen to music every morning.

dance

To dance means to move your body to music.

In the story, a woman dances and hits her heels on the wood.

They dance at the party.

night

Night means the dark time after the day.

In the story, the night continues while people play music.

We stayed outside all night.

There are more riders and more vehicles.

Use “there is” for one thing.

Use “there are” for two or more things.

There are more riders and more vehicles.

There are also safety worries.

There are many bikes in this city.

Repeat after me: There are more riders and more vehicles.