Growing up as a teenager in the seventies was a complete different kettle of fish compared to today’s Information Age. Now teenagers get fat sitting on their beds playing electronic games on their iPads and other fancy gadgets.
South Africa although seen as the Switzerland of Africa was still far behind Europe in many ways. We only saw the first television show in 1976. The most significant technology we saw before this was the hi-fi and maybe the walkman that followed. So we were forced to use our imagination and invented various activities to combat boredom. I will tell you about one of my favorites.
Red Raleigh bicycle - photo by Robert Couse-Baker
Bicycles helped a lot. We often set up races on the pavements in front of our houses. The racetrack consisted of the following. The start would be in my backyard, down the long driveway and exiting the property you made a sharp but serious 90° turn onto the pavement. You then pedaled the bicycle at high speed on the long straight pavement until the next intersection where you would exit the pavement into the dangerous street making a 360° turn back to my house. You would quickly enter the pavement again at the first property entrance and then sharp turn again into our property and up the driveway.
You can imagine the pavement being no broader than 1.5 meters became a dangerous place for anything that moved. Pedestrians who dared to use the pavement when we raced quickly learnt that this area was off limits and would scramble across the road to another sidewalk.
It was also dangerous for us as cyclists as the tricky part would be to overtake another bicycle or focus to stay on your side when another racer comes past you head on.
How we managed not to kill each other was an absolute miracle. Accidents did indeed happen especially when we had too many cyclists racing. At times there were ten or more bicycles crowding this track and to make it more exiting we used to peg a piece of carton onto the bicycles frame which slightly touched the spokes, making a noise which simulated a running engine. The noise simulated a Grand Prix at Monza. Retief Street became a scary and dangerous zone for all who dared to invade our space of fun. My best pal Mauro and I had collided into each other on many occasions during these races, luckily never got more than a few scratches and “roasties” (abrasions).
Our bicycles were our most precious possessions. I never had a new one as my parents couldn’t afford such luxuries having to raise five very active children. I managed to get a second-hand Raleigh bicycle which I absolutely adored and treated like a baby. I often cleaned it, and later spent hours sanding down the old paint and spray-painted it myself cherry red. I polished it with brasso (chemical that shines brass) until it resembled a bicycle coming from a factory floor.
My first ride into the city was a very sad occasion. I parked my red iron horse against a lamp post and ran into my favorite toyshop to buy something. I returned in less than a minute to find the bicycle had vanished. I walked home crying and was very angry and frustrated with myself for being so naïve and irresponsible. Those were the days we lived to the full.
Today I have skinny legs, but calves like “Popeye” resulting from our cycling days and abundant energy. Some days were bad but most were good, very good!
About Bugs
I got my inspiration for this website from the song called “Imagine”, and so I decided to go on this adventure. I have always wanted to put up something like this where my friends and I could express our memories and dreams for the future. Share them with us, because if many people dream the same dream it will certainly come true.
I remember those days clearly I often had to stand “guard” on the gatepost behind the palm tree in front of our house to let Bugs and the other “racers” know when the coast was clear. These days made for lots of laughs, tears and many roasties. I still get the giggles when I think of all those times.