Fading Memories of Cycling and Before Social Distancing (Sepia Saturday 512)

The Sepia Saturday prompt picture this week shows bicycle girls from c. 1925 - and I think Alan's comment deserves quoting, too:  

When I was putting together the theme prompt images for March, a few weeks ago, the last thing I thought is that we would be looking at this week's theme image and thinking "those two on the right seem to be standing a little too close together!".

 

This made me go back to my photo album from 1976, and some fading photos from my own one and only cycling holiday, with a church youth group - up in the province of Värmland, where I was living then. 

All my colour photos from the 1970s are in a sad condition of fading away now. They are also firmly glued into an album. I just quick-copied them with my camera and decided to leave the colouring as it is, without any attempts at digital editing (except a bit of cropping with one or two). I've deliberately chosen photos that are pretty much anonymous, but hopefully they still convey the general atmosphere. I think we were away for four days (three nights) - staying the nights in summer camp cottages and old countryside chapels rather than tents, but still rather primitive conditions. (Cooking on portable spirit stoves etc.) And certainly not involving keeping much distance - except perhaps uphill! (being more of a challenge for some than for others, depending on personal condition as well as what kind of bike you had...)

(Me sitting on the ground with my legs crossed.)

(Whether worrying about toilet paper, I cannot remember!)

Down Memory Lane

Graham at Eagleton Notes recently posted about his childhood bicycles and tricycles - and I promised in a comment to look up a photo my first bicycle, which was of a construction somewhere in between: It was a two-wheeler, but with the pedals on the front wheel, like on a tricycle. 

The only photo I found is to the left in the collage below. I probably got it for my 5th birthday. I've been trying to remember if I had a tricycle before it, but cannot find any evidence that I did. Then it struck me that until I was nearly five, we lived in a flat in town, and maybe it was not practical or safe for me to have one there. And by the time we moved out to the village, I was too big for a tricycle, but still too young for the "grown-up" kind... So this was probably considered a compromise.

The one on the right is of my first "proper" bicycle, from when I was 10. I seem to recall it took me a while to learn to ride that one; but by the time I was willing to pose with it for a photo, I was probably also able to use it!

From my drawing (also in the photo album), it is made clear that one of my favourite places to cycle to was 'the libbrary'... (deliberately misspelled here to reflect that I had not yet learned the Swedish word correctly: biblioteket...) 

I think I also usually cycled to school (in grade 4-6). The school (and also the library) was around 2 km away (at 'the other end' of the spread out village where I lived). Before I learned to cycle, I had to walk. Except in winter, because then we (a bunch of us who lived in the same neighbourhood) got to go by taxi. I have no photo of that, but it looked like an old big black London cab. I suppose our parents preferred that solution to have us out walking and cycling on the main road in snow and ice.

From grade 7 onwards, I went to school in town, and then we went by bus.

December 28

Shadow Shot Sunday

♫ The wheels on the bikes go round and round… ♫

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Straight Out Of The Camera–What?

Another piece from the 1960’s/70’s Swedish Design exhibit. I couldn’t see any sign attached to this one so I have no idea for what exact purpose it was made, or by whom. I’d have loved to see a demonstration of it. My impression is that it must have been built for someone with much longer legs than mine! But still?

In the background the orange Permobil electric wheelchair from 1969 which I presented in my Friday Weekend Reflection post.

… … …

More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday at www.murrieta365.com