That Pink Clock Radio And Other Random Memories

Beautiful story. I love it. I also had a pair of cap pistols and a red hat with the chin string on it for my adventures when I was little. My grandpa gave me my mother's old Radio Flyer that I used for years for play. Later my mom reclaimed it as a garden cart.

 

Actually, my handle failed at the tongue; rusted in two.

 

Welding is something I always wanted to try. Guess there's some things there's no time for.

 

Let's talk about our bikes... I know you had one (or two). When I was about 6 or 7, I got a 26" maroon colored Schwinn. Yes, 26" for a little kid. My parents had that "you'll grow into it" mentality so I had to ride standing up for quite a while. My bike had a metal basket mounted in front of the handlebars, which carried lots of school books over the elementary years.

I've always been a voracious reader; so was everyone in my immediate family. Every summer when school was out, the local elementary school library was open and I'd ride the ole' Schwinn down to the library and fill up that basket with books. Now that I think about it, I don't know why it didn't occur to me to rig a way to tow the Radio Flyer.

 

I used to dream of the day I get a bike, my friends all had one. I was the last 1 in the group to get one, I can understand my parents holding off cuz I was a klutz. Brooklyn was not the safest place to ride the bike. My father was training me to ride on the sidewalk, I just miss pushing a man down into a cellar through the open Cellar Doors. After about 2 weeks I really had the hang of it my parents will let me ride in the Street, I decided to visit a school friend about eight blocks away. He examined my bike I think he was more excited than me, he said get on I'll take you for a ride and we were gliding along when my sneaker got into spokes causing the bike to flip straight up and over. I was on the ground oh, my friend was on top of me, the bike on top of him. The Klutz strikes again, front wheel was bent, I had to walk this wobbly bike home.
Don't know if you have ever saw it there are photos online, the bike I really love was the Hopalong Cassidy bike. It had a saddle for a seat I believe it had a hoster for a rifle, it was a kid's dream.

 

@John Brunner My Schwinn looked similar to that but without the boy bar. It had the coaster brake and I can remember getting going pretty fast, then using my arms to help boost myself up and onto the seat. I could coast along until it began to slow down, then I'd have to slide off the seat and back onto the pedals.

 

Welding --- I learned to arc weld when I was 10. It fascinated me for some reason. I was in my junior year when they started allowing girls in metal shop, so I signed up and learned to braze and use an acetylene cutting torch. I already knew how to solder but learned silver soldering.

Bikes --- I didn't have a bike until I was 10. It was a used girls' 24" balloon tire. It was a scuffed-up dirty white, so I took it apart under my grandpa's watchful eye and repainted it a rosy pink. I recovered the seat and bought new pedals with blocks and stirrups and was given a shiny handlebar that worked better for me. I could reach the pedals with the blocks, but I was 12 before it was comfortable sitting down and I became a daredevil. Iodine and bandages decorated my legs and arms more than once. The worst crash I had was in Texas on my great uncle's ranch at age 13. I was riding a cousin 26" and lost control going downhill and crashed in wild blackberry bushes. Jean shorts and a tank top offer little protection in such a senerio.. That was my only bike until I was in my 30's and mountain bikes became popular.

At 14 I was given a 90cc trail bike that I used to round up cattle, get out to the equipment in the field, or go down the road to friends to play guitar or go horseback riding.