1953 checking in.
I would get on my bike in the morning, come home for lunch, then peddle off again. We lived in Bloomfield, NJ, a suburb of Newark. We’d explore different towns. Once, we found an F-86 Sabre jet plane that had been put on a pedestal in a park. War surplus, I guess. We spend the afternoon climbing up, in, and over it! I think it was in Belleville. Maybe East Orange.
We moved to the “country” in 1962. My Dad left for work early in the morning. He dropped me off at my favorite fishin’ spot at about 6:00 a.m. I’d catch a few “sunnys,” walk home, clean & gut ‘em, and put ‘em in the fridge. That was dinner. Then, I’d walk to where the canoe was parked and paddle over to the beach. I’d hang out with friends all afternoon. Everyone’s transistor was tuned to WABC, and we listened to music, played cards, splashed around in the lake ‘til it was time to paddle home to cook the morning’s catch.
There were days when I’d come home early to watch Soupy Sales; funniest stuff I ever saw.
I’m not ashamed to say that I had the world’s greatest childhood.
My family and I did all this with little or no money.
Like my Mom once told me: “We don’t go on vacations because we LIVE where people go on vacation.”
Yeah, I lived through all that.
Amazing
Peddle?
No... pedal.
Every family had a charge account at the only store in our town.
During the summer (or after school) we'd just go load up on candy, sodas, and bubble gum and just sign the charge slip. AND we never abused it.
Well I grew up in the late 40’s and 50’s in Miami Fla. You would not want to raise kids there today. Anyway, I remember being dropped off at the movies in the Gables with RC bottle caps for admission with a bag lunch at 10 in the morning and being picked up around 4 or so in the afternoon. Would see the main feature 2 or three times and I remember learning the words to She Wore A Yellow Ribbon with John Wayne I saw it so much. Those were the days you could leave your kids all day and not worry about them. Gone forever I guess.
Like my Mom once told me: “We don’t go on vacations because we LIVE where people go on vacation.”I can say that now. I live in Las Vegas. ;)