Almost the same as one I used to ownGrampapinhead posed the question, "Anyone remember being young....as easy?" I must say that at times it wasn't easy.
Grampapinhead made mention of the 'big old yellow school bus' and this brought to mind my school days and how I got to school.
When I was five years old I was within walking distance of my first school, but after a couple of months my dad started building our second home. This meant moving from the house in the city, Palmerston North, to our bach, (beach house) at Foxton beach while our new house was being built.
At this time, my mother did not drive, dad left for the city early every morning, there wasn't a school bus route anywhere near our home, and the school was about five miles away, soooo, I had to learn to ride a push bike (kiwi talk for bicycle), in a BIG hurry.
You think this was easy? H**L NO! The roads all around us were unpaved, just sand which was covered with cut flax placed across the tire tracks.
You know what flax is don't you? it is a tough grass looking plant, used as an ornamental in our gardens. The variety they used on the roads used to grow probably three to four feet tall.
Just use your imagination what it was like to be just five years old, have a father who was somewhat impatient, holding onto the back of your bike, and you trying to keep your balance on the flax covered sandy road while learning to ride your first bike.
The pressure was on me, I had to learn to ride that bike or walk the five mile to school. As you can imagine I mastered riding that bike in about three days, OOOH the freedom, I can still recall the feeling of riding my own bicycle to school for the first time.
I was nervous and excited at the same time, and had to be extra careful on probably about half the roads near the school as these were just loose gravel and there were ( as I remember) rather large rocks to dodge.
Our new home was completed in about four months so back to the city we moved, where I had paved roads all the way to school.
On my thirteenth birthday I received a brand new Raleigh bicycle, much the same as in the picture. It did not have gears, it was a darker green, and had a bright shiny bell.
I rode that bicycle until I finished highschool which was near six miles from home.
Grampapinhead made mention of the 'big old yellow school bus' and this brought to mind my school days and how I got to school.
When I was five years old I was within walking distance of my first school, but after a couple of months my dad started building our second home. This meant moving from the house in the city, Palmerston North, to our bach, (beach house) at Foxton beach while our new house was being built.
At this time, my mother did not drive, dad left for the city early every morning, there wasn't a school bus route anywhere near our home, and the school was about five miles away, soooo, I had to learn to ride a push bike (kiwi talk for bicycle), in a BIG hurry.
You think this was easy? H**L NO! The roads all around us were unpaved, just sand which was covered with cut flax placed across the tire tracks.
You know what flax is don't you? it is a tough grass looking plant, used as an ornamental in our gardens. The variety they used on the roads used to grow probably three to four feet tall.
Just use your imagination what it was like to be just five years old, have a father who was somewhat impatient, holding onto the back of your bike, and you trying to keep your balance on the flax covered sandy road while learning to ride your first bike.
The pressure was on me, I had to learn to ride that bike or walk the five mile to school. As you can imagine I mastered riding that bike in about three days, OOOH the freedom, I can still recall the feeling of riding my own bicycle to school for the first time.
I was nervous and excited at the same time, and had to be extra careful on probably about half the roads near the school as these were just loose gravel and there were ( as I remember) rather large rocks to dodge.
Our new home was completed in about four months so back to the city we moved, where I had paved roads all the way to school.
On my thirteenth birthday I received a brand new Raleigh bicycle, much the same as in the picture. It did not have gears, it was a darker green, and had a bright shiny bell.
I rode that bicycle until I finished highschool which was near six miles from home.
2 comments:
That's a neat story, keewee!
That bike is VERY green! :)
You should have seen the color of the bike some twenty years later. A friend wanted something to practice his spray painting technique on before painting his car. MY BIKE WAS PURPLE when he finished.
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