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Cycle-Skating - The New Sport of 1923
- Thread starter Chas
- Start date
I've never seen that Chas.
We cad cramp-on roller skates to go on our shoes when I was a kid, and ice-skate blades that strapped onto our shoes when the pond froze over behind our house.
They were a nightmare and dangerous, they kept coming loose!
We cad cramp-on roller skates to go on our shoes when I was a kid, and ice-skate blades that strapped onto our shoes when the pond froze over behind our house.
They were a nightmare and dangerous, they kept coming loose!
I remember the roller skates. The pavements were all slabs where I lived and if the wing nut on the size adjustment stayed done up you risked being catapulted onto your face by a raised slab. As soon as the wing nut did come undone (which was usually between 30 seconds and a minute from putting them on) you dare'nt lift your foot up for fear of the skate falling in two and leaving only the back wheels loosely attached to your ankle. So skating consisted of not picking your feet up and following a slalom course around the many raised slabs while holding on to the nearest wall.
Put me off roller skating for life!! I wonder how many kids suffered from broken ankles from the hateful things.
That looks pretty good. I wonder if it would take off if tried again? Reason being, you get all terrain skateboards, mountain bikes, why not all terrain skates?
There are in line skates with bigger wheels, about 12-15mm which makes them much more 'varied' terrain. My mate lost both front teeth skating into and tripping on a raised paving slab. It was only weeks after he'd cut them, we were 6 or 7 at the time I guess.
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I lived in Germany in the early '50s (Father in the Army - we were at Verden-on-Aller near Hanover). We roller skated everywhere as there was virtually no traffic, Germany still had a depressed economy back in 1956!
The best skates had rubber wheels and a leather strap across the front that the toe of your boot went in. Mine had steel wheels and side clips. They were forever coming loose and the steel wheels caused blisters on my feet.
Plenty of grazed knees in those days.
We also had large scooters with inflated tyres and decent brakes - a German tradition by the look of it.
I remember first seeing a German Military Transport plane banking over the camp - it had Iron Crosses on the wings - gave me a funny feeling having seen the Kids Comics of the day!
Happy days (when one is 9 years old).
Bob.
The best skates had rubber wheels and a leather strap across the front that the toe of your boot went in. Mine had steel wheels and side clips. They were forever coming loose and the steel wheels caused blisters on my feet.
Plenty of grazed knees in those days.
We also had large scooters with inflated tyres and decent brakes - a German tradition by the look of it.
I remember first seeing a German Military Transport plane banking over the camp - it had Iron Crosses on the wings - gave me a funny feeling having seen the Kids Comics of the day!
Happy days (when one is 9 years old).
Bob.
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- Mar 11, 2014
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- 1,506
Where we are, we sometimes get military planes with German markings going over, it is strange to see. I have seen German tanks on low loaders on the M4 too, on their way to the ranges in Pembrokeshire. There’s not so much training going on these days, but when we first came, there was lots, mainly US and UK stuff.. An area of common land nearby was used, first time I’d seen an inflatable tank. One fed up local wrote “Bugger off Biggles” on his barn roof……and promptly became a favourite for bomb and missile aiming practise runs..
I had a pair of these xmas WMDs, usual knee scars, bleeding elbows etc.. The pavements around us were pretty unfriendly, the tarmac road was better, though I did get shouted and beeped at quite a bit, fewer cars on the roads then though.
I had a pair of these xmas WMDs, usual knee scars, bleeding elbows etc.. The pavements around us were pretty unfriendly, the tarmac road was better, though I did get shouted and beeped at quite a bit, fewer cars on the roads then though.
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