Rare Sighting

I was sitting on my front porch a few hours ago, when I saw not one but two rare sights. Bicycles. I know, it's amazing isn't it? It has been years since I've seen a bike on the street. You usually see them only on TV or in France or both. Even rarer still was the fact that the bike was being ridden by a kid! The other bike I saw was being ridden by a young women. Her bike was a standard old school beach-type bike with a basket and everything. For a moment I thought I'd smoked my pipe a little too much this morning and was having flashbacks to 1969.


Just seeing two different people rides bikes on the same day is pretty amazing. Considering our city has more four-wheeler's & golf carts then cars or people. For a minute it got me thinking about 1969 in a way. Because, during does years around Christmas & Birthdays that what we looked forward to, a new bike. Oh, a few adventurous teens might have gotten a mini-bike or go-cart, but for us younger ones it was a bicycle. 


Another thing, the fact that I was outside on a fairly warm day was probably a rare sight for those bike riders. I mean who steps out of their house anymore? Usually all you see outside is the occasional city worker or the man who cuts your grass. When I was a kid (my four love it when I start a statement with that) all we had was outside. Our house wasn't air conditioned, we only had three TV channels with nothing but game shows and soaps, & a Mom who said, "Go outside or clean your room!", enough said. 


We would spend hour after hour riding all over town. When you got thirsty, you either drank out of the garden hose or rode down the streets, collected Coke bottles, and cashed them in at the store for a ice cold soda and maybe some penny candy. (Kids, ask your grandparents what penny candy is.) 


Now don't get me wrong, a golf cart could be cool and I really LOVE my air conditioner. I'm just saying, every once-in-a-while step outside. You might be surprised by what you find.         

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fail-Safe

Image
Through the paper-thin walls of this old house, I can hear my neighbors getting ready for another day. Laying here remember when I used to do that, working at night so I could take care of the kids, while my wife went to work. Yesterday sorta marked a tipping point for me I suppose. I finally got my consultation with the gastroenterologist. So we are working the set-up some tests my primary care physician has been wanting for me to have for months. While I would love nothing more than to tell my PCP, “I told you so”. But I suppose knowing is better than not knowing. Although I do find some comfort in ignorant bliss.  I get the impression some people feel I am an optimist. But I like to think of myself more as a realist. What some may mistake as optimism is actually nothing more than analytics. Where I breakdown a given situation and create a solution. That may sound cold and frankly less romantic. But you must understand, after living so long in a void of no emotion (due to
Read more

Moments You've Lived

Image
It’s 5:15 in the afternoon and my stupid ass is back outside. I just checked the phone and it’s a balmy 90° with a feel like temperature of 99°f. I figured since I was hot in the room with the AC on, I might as well come outside and do same thing. Earlier I read a funny meme from my sibling on Facebook that read, “Can someone send me a hug?” copy and share. Rather sarcastically I replied, “We are not huggers , didn’t we grow up in the same house?” Probably no truer words have ever been spoken about our lives as kids. Oh, we weren’t beaten or overly abused, we were just not raised all “touchy feely”. Not surprisingly most kids of our generation weren’t raised that way either. We were provided for in our working class suburban homes. It’s just that a lot of time wasn’t devoted to things like feelings and emotions. You were expected to tough it out and swallow those tears. I guess one place where we could let our emotions go was church. Raised during the infancy of the “Pentecostal Moveme
Read more

Blowing Breeze

Image
It’s later in the afternoon so I decided to take advantage of the lighter humidity and come back outside. There’s a lite breeze blowing so while the gnats are still out, at least they’re having to put in some extra effort to lite on me. You can still smell where the grass got cut this morning, but sadly the faint scent of BBQ from the restaurant down the street is gone.  The poor old sycamore tree leaves look a bit sad. Hanging like they’re on their last leg from the limbs. There’s no point in bringing up the fig bush/tree, it’s all but shed most of its leaves. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago both plants were vibrant and green, with a bountiful crop of figs. But the birds have mostly abandon their nest in the fig branches. With the kids grown and the shade and food supply dried up, I can’t say I blame them.  But I’m the human here, I’m adaptable with opposable thumbs. I can’t move on as easily as the birds. My so-called cognitive reasoning insist I stick aro
Read more