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Friday, October 9, 2015

New wheels and old memories

Summer's got a new shiny bicycle. While Brett dropped her old one at the recycle centre, he scored a bike for me. He drove home with it strapped to his roof racks.

It has a little surface rust, but otherwise, someone has too much money because there is nothing wrong with it. I still has dimples on the tyres! I am now a happy bike rider. We had a lovely Sunday last week, riding to a new cafĂ© for lunch and then on to the playground. It was a great family outing. Since I have ridden to the library with the girls too. I do need to get a basket though.


I am no stranger to scrounging at the town dump. When I was a child, growing up in country Kalangadoo, Dad managed the local tip.

I spent many a weekend and school holiday foraging and fossicking through the towns discarded waste.

We got used to which bags contained Mrs Hayes' Great Dane shit, and which had toys and books. You never saw five kids move so fast when on of us yelled out "Toys!".

We had endless old cars to play in, and a herd of feral kittens to try catch. Mum never let us take them home.

In those days, all the old tyres were piled high and set on fire. The smell was atrocious, and we were mesmerised at the stories high plumes of the blackest smoke billowing into the sky. We were never allowed near.

General rubbish was graded up into piles and set alight too. These days we scrambled to find empty aerosol cans to throw into the burning flames. The exploding cans was fabulous entertainment for five little kids.

The lady down the road (who became one of mum's best friends), later told Mum how she felt sorry for her with her kids there.

I am aware now that some people probably looked down on us as kids. But it was just he way it was. We didn't feel sorry, we had a great time when Dad managed the dump!

Dad went on to run a successful scrap metal recycling business. We to this day, still call it Dad's supermarket. We'd always find something to take home after having a pick through.



13 comments:

  1. oo what a great find. There is nothing better than a bike ride together in the sun!

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    1. I've been loving having a bike, and it's just in time for the good weather.

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  2. In the process of moving, I've been leaving stuff not good enough for the women's refuge on the fence - I've gotten rid of countless CDs, books, toys (even McDonald toys) and even a curtain and some videos (actual videos) and a VCR. One woman even drove past the next day and thanked me for the toddler ride on. We've also left bikes out there in the past - people kept buzzing to tell us we'd left our bike out, so I had to make a sign that it was free. We're deluding ourselves if we think we can keep buying new things and they'll just disappear. We need to keep recycling on all levels....

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    1. I've left a telly, and a pram and a childs car seat out with a 'free' sign on it before. It's lovely you got some thanks back, I bet that felt good :)

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  3. There's nothing wrong with recycling and scavenging and it sounds like you had great fun! I didn't think the resource centre allowed people to take things...

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    1. Ha. Well Brett kinda knows the guy, and when he saw Brett looking at it, he laughed and gave him a thumbs up.

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  4. That sounds like awesome fun as a kid. I used to love going on tip runs with dad when I was little.

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  5. It just shows you can have great fun as a kid outdoors, without constantly being glued to an iPad or PS3. Love your new bike! :)

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    1. We never had anything remotely close to a playstation when I was a kid. I do remember we played outside lots! I love my new bike too.

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  6. I re read your post and read that you gotta new bike! That's pretty cool. I haven't ridden a bike in years! I hope you get some great use put of it this summer. Xx

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    1. We rode to the playground on Thursday! I can imagine we will go for lots of rides like this in Summer, as long as it's not too hot!

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  7. What a great story Alicia. I used to love going to the tip with dad. Bike riding conjures up old memories for me too.

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  8. Preloved toys are the BEST! What great childhood memories. It's great how they've shaped your appreciation for recycled stuff. That bike is a great find!

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