In those days all of us would ride with an umbrella placed carefully from the handle bar diagonally like in the photo above. We needed to pay for bicycle licence to the Urban District Council . It was one dollar per year. We were often checked by the police to see if we had good brakes and good lights at night.
When it rained we opened our umbrellas and cycled with only one hand on the handlebar...it was dangerous but we all did it!!
If you notice the bicycle has a special dynamo for the bicycle lamp. The harder we pedalled the brighter will the the bicycle lamp.
An amusing way of boys trying to get girl friends was by riding alongside with the girls. We were not allowed to ride three abreast or even two abreast. But the brave boys would try to ride next to the girls they liked. Soon the whole town would know who was interested in who!! I know at least one pair who got married and they had a wonderful marriage. He retired not long ago..he was from my class. Well done to him!!
My most memorable event with my bicycle was the trip my classmates and I made one Saturday. We cycled 21 miles to visit the new government school. That day I also had a terrible burn on my right shin because I did not know that a motor bike exhaust pipe could be burning hot...I have that scar on my leg permanently. But I was brave enough to cycle all the way back home with a palm sized skin melting away!! The pain was so unbearable I almost crushed my molars!!
Today the new bicycles are very different from the one shown in the photo...
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