When we were kids.......

[olds442jetaway]

     This doesn't have a lot to do with vp, but some of the things posted here will bring back memories for some and have others in the somewhat younger set be aghast at things that were commonplace back then. My long term memory is very good, but don't ask me what I just had for dinner. There are lots of sites with similar things people did back when, these are just some of my personal memories and experiences.

1951....Age 3. Walked by myself to the corner Chinese laundry for my mom who was nursing my baby brother ( in Boston ) to pick up part of my dad's band uniform. ( Big Band ).
1952....Went on my first streetcar ride by myself to meet my dad at Boston University. Mom did put me on the car though. Too bad dad didn't keep going. Had a straight A average for 2 years in engineering. Us kids, the Big Bands starting to fade out, and a job offer at Sikorsky in Ct. complicated things.
1953....Had a great train ride to visit grandparents in Virginia. I stood between the cars in the space that rocked back and forth most of the trip. Watched the track below through the cracks and kept the conductor company on his rounds punching tickets.
1954....Got our first car. 1948 Nash Club coupe 4 cyl. Helped dad rebuild the engine a couple of years later. I got a ride in it to the first day of kindergarden, but after that walked to school with the rest of the kids no matter what the weather. School was well over a mile away.
1955....Got a new jeep pedal car for Christmas. I know that really busted my parents' budget since dad only made about 75 bucks a week at Sikorsky Aircraft. When things were slow in the early days of Sikorsky, dad put the radial airplane engines back in time at Sikorsky for the military. Not an easy job either.
1956....Parents bought their home for 13k new. Borrowed the fifty dollar down payment from my grandmother. When the mosquito control truck came by spraying, all the kids would run outside and hide in the poison fog. We also had a job dusting the rose bushes with DDT which we got all over ourselves. Had a terrible time with an invasion of Japanese beetles that year. Also helped dad dig the drywell about 8 feet down. Of course we hit clay.
1957.....Walked with my little brother some Saturday mornings about a mile to the bus stop, took the city bus about 6 more miles to town, walked to the local movie theatre with a quarter each in our pockets and had change coming to boot for candy. Often times the cartoons and newsreels were better than the movies. Usually horror flicks or early Sci-Fi stuff. The movie " The Tingler " absolutely scared us to death though.
1958....Really had the fishing bug. Rode our bikes about 3 miles regularly to our favorite spot. Stayed from early in the morning until dinner time. Sometimes we brought dinner back for mom with us depending on what we caught. Dad of course had already taught us how to clean, filet and or scale the fish properly.
1959....Played a lot of "Risk" with the gang. Ran various games with baseball cards, marbles, etc. in the neighborhood. Got pretty good at bartering and trading stuff. Picked up a little pocket change too. I rebuilt an old Western Auto lawn mower a neighbor had discarded and mowed lawns for the neighbors for about fifty cents. Dad had to bug me to mow ours though. We even played some poker for pennies on rainy days. Mom had taught us the game long ago.
1960....Sold my beat up and well used coaster bike to a neighborhood kid for 5 bucks. Bought myself a new English 3 speed bike with money I had saved. Cost a whopping 39 bucks. Had great workmanship and top notch chrome.
1961....Really got interested in cars and helped the neighbors rebuild theirs. Tough to balance the time since around that time, I discovered GIRLS....
Fast forward to 1969 when I met the Mrs. and the rest is history.

     edited to fix a couple of spelling typos. Somehow, I never see these until the post has posted.