Back to the future

I looked out the window a few days ago, and there they were...kids. Kids playing in the snow. Imagine, in this day of electronic games, couch potatoes and computers (kids are all thumbs now...but I digress), these kids were simply playing in the snow. This, of course, brought on a flood of nostalgia (hey, I can remember the storm of 1947).

Back in the day, bicycles had Bendix coaster brakes, and you applied them by peddling backwards. Back then, roller skates were attached to your regular shoes, and everyone wore a skate key around their necks. Back then, putting a kid in a coaster wagon and pulling him was called a ride...and it was fun (although, at the moment, I can't remember why). Back then, if you wanted a real thrill, you used a cloths pin to attach a playing card to the front wheel of your Schwinn bike so that the card stuck through the spokes. When you rode, you got a great sound effect from the spokes beating on the card. The bikes, by the way, weighed about 200 pounds and were built like tanks.

Back then, we made our own scooters. We broke a skate into two pieces and attached them to a 2x4 style board (we didn't buy the stuff but, rather, scrounged it...but I digress again). Then we took a crate and nailed it to one end of the board. Finally, we took a stick of wood and nailed it across the top of the crate to create handles. One foot went onto the board while the other pushed on the pavement. When you got the thing going pretty good, both feet went onto the board and you had yourself a 5-30 second thrill.

Anyway, when I saw the kids actually out in the snow, away from the boob tube, I thought there just might be hope for us all. I wonder if they know how to play hide and seek.

Paddle safe...

DS