Memories Vol 6

A red Raleigh bicycle with a silver carrier at the back was my first bike my dad ever bought me. I remember the gentleman that owned the shop well. He was tall, very fine hair, deep voice but soft spoken, he wore glasses and smiled a lot. It was a small shop, but had lots of stuff in it and a bell that rang when you opened the door.

My dad spoke to the man who produced the bicycle and asked me to stand next to it for him to check if it would be the right fit. It was and was happy, shiny and new, red and even better, mine. My friends all had bikes and dad didn't want me to be left behind when they all went for rides down to the old Outspan roadhouse across the road from the largest Flamingo pan you could imagine. Thousands of Flamingos simply shimmering pink.

This place made a dagwood sandwich that could not fit in your mouth with hot chips longer than a grown man's fingers and it came with a glass bottle of 200ml Coke for R3.50. Petrol cost my dad 50c a litre.

The roadhouse had a small drive in movie screen, maybe a quarter the size of the original drive in screen, but it was great as it was close to where we lived and we could ride there on our bicycles. They had the nicest ice cream and caramel sauce. We didn't go often as we weren't just given money, but had to do chores to get it, but when we did we had a great time and seeing that sweets only cost half cent eact we could afford it. The Outspan Roadhouse also made the nicest milkshakes, no rubbish, just thick and good.

I wonder who remembers where in my memory these fit

It was wonderful and safe time where we could just get on our bicycles as groups of friends, motorbikes or in our cars as families and go sit on a blanket at the drive-in at night till after the last show at midnight without the worry of being robbed or our homes being broken into. It was a great treat for us as a family every now and then & we really enjoyed the together time.

Why has things gone backwards, what was the motive behind the lie that things would be better, they're not.

A song from that great time

Improvise Adapt & Overcome