See the Importance

The fact that the bicycle was an essential part of being different to the younger members of the family (and the older) was an important distinction. While possessing it, had assisted in landing me in the most recent trouble (that and the fact that I had decided to steal in protest, because I was sent out into the cold Dunedin night to buy food for the rest of the family), the bike was a major step up in status. The ability to race away from other family members as they slowly walked down the road and 'leave them in your dust', rather than dawdle with them, opened up great opportunities. Leaving the 'wee' (you can see how long we spent in and around the ‘Scottish’ city of Dunedin) boys behind, as they made their slow, child-sized steps along the road, was a pleasure. To head out, at ten times the speed of the walkers, and race down the valley. Flying past, the shops, schools and houses. That was a freedom I appreciated. So suddenly, on top of the physical (form two) punishment, I was having a major ‘fiscal’ (form three) and psychological (form one) punishment imposed. All three forms. My father was, in one swift action, changing my life.

I remember I was proud having the bike. It often gave me more time to do things. It was of course no use on any of the newspaper rounds, as all of the streets in the area were too steep. But it was certainly easier to get around with the bike. To school and home. Having a flat tyre was terrible. Suddenly grounded. And getting the tube repaired should have been a priority every time. But it was usually up to us to buy the repair kit, and usually to fix the tube. Our father had shown us how to fix it, and after that, we were left to maintain it. A rear tyre puncture was always a disaster and took several ignored days (or weeks) before it would finally be fixed. It wasn’t unusual to re puncture the tyre as you tried to remove it from the bike, or, when you were trying to put it back into the tyre. I remind you that we never had a car. So, we tended not to go places. Therefore, the bike was enormously significant.

You may recall the story of one of my trips on a bike which ended in a minor disaster (see blog March 28th 2012), where I ended up injured and due to blood and gravel in my eyelids and such, unable to see for a few days. That had begun as one of those early morning rides to school. I recall heading off early to school one winters morning, having arranged to stop at the local kindergarten, where, on the bare winter branches of a rose bush, there was a splendid spiders nest. That silken walled box stretched over and between the branches of the bush. It was to be my ‘show and tell’ at school.

(Continued tomorrow)