大象传媒

Bikes

Funny things bikes, they can alter your life irrevocably. I had this longing when I was a boy to ride
one of W. H. Smith鈥檚 delivery cycles. I was a lazy boy and I could have easily have got a paper
round and the bike that went with it. My parents though provided me with just enough pocket
money to make working for it unnecessary. The money though wasn鈥檛 compensation enough, it still
didn鈥檛 satisfy the passion I had for these red heavy wheeled bicycles.

I had a pal called Michael. He had a paper round and with it one of W. H. Smith鈥檚 bikes. We were
great friends and I thought that he would let me have the ride that I was so desperate for. His bike
was brand new and he refused to let me have a go. We fell out over it. So that afternoon instead of
playing with him I played with Colin another of my friends, we went to Tonbridge Racecourse.
Within a few minutes a Doodlebug came racing across the sky with a Spitfire flying along side. The
Spitfire put its wing under the Doodlebug鈥檚 wing and flipped it over, it dived to the ground and
landed on Tinker鈥檚 Island on the edge of the Racecourse. It stuck there for a split second and then
exploded. Colin and I had jumped into a ditch when we saw it coming, so we were fairly safe. I
remember all the grass being on fire around us and a lot of metal flying through the air. We made
our way to the island, driven I expect by the souvenirs we might find, in those days every boy had a
shrapnel collection. Although we were only a hundred yards away I think fright made us dawdle
because by the time we got there the place was swarming with soldiers, they wouldn鈥檛 let us on to
the island, but we got close enough to see a blood stained shoe that belonged to Rodney, Michael
cousin, he was the lucky one, his wound was only in his leg. Michael had been hit in the head and
died the following day.

I would have played with Michael that afternoon, if we hadn鈥檛 fallen out over a red bike.

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