Skidding competitions.

[Aperitif]

Oh, and s***ting off a railway bridge. Marvellous! Never hit anybody, though.

You must have eaten a lot for it to be a hobby. You were 'logging off' long before PCs were invented then, DZ!

 

[Night Train]

Skateboarding down the nearest steep hill was a good one, we had home-made boards made out of a piece of wood and a roller-skate, worked OK though. Used to have to dive off if a car was coming up the hill and the skateboards would rattle under the cars much to the owners annoyance.

I couldn't do skateboards but had roller skates, those that strapped on over your shoes.
We used to skate as fast as we could down hill along the centre of the road and try to do a sharp turn and jump back onto the pavement before running out into the main road that crossed at the bottom of the hill. Avoiding traffic, parked cars and pedestrians was part of the 'fun'.

Also being towed, on skates, by a bike as fast as possible before letting go for the down hill bit. Crouching low on the skates to get as much speed as possible before running out of road.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

At this risk of making a spammy comment, you might like this book what I done published a couple of years ago http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/books/924-now-then-gadgie.html (not written by me!) It's FULL of stuff like this that will appeal to anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I did a giant skidder past our village LBS and for a little while he refused to sell me tyres as he didn't believe I deserved them.

 

[Archie_tect]

At this risk of making a spammy comment, you might like this book what I done published a couple of years ago http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/books/924-now-then-gadgie.html (not written by me!) It's FULL of stuff like this that will appeal to anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

We were too old and sophisticated by then AC!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Doh! I should have said 'post-Bill Hayley, pre Interwebs'

 

[Aperitif]

At this risk of making a spammy comment, you might like this book what I done published a couple of years ago http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/books/924-now-then-gadgie.html (not written by me!) It's FULL of stuff like this that will appeal to anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

What is this 'growing up' business all about?

 

[Archie_tect]

Eeh, them were t'days....

I used to have to arrange with the young pre-Mrs A_T in 1980 to arrange to be at the telephone box at the end of her street on a certain day at a certain time, so that I could phone her from the telephone box at the end of my street, so we could chat- in the days before we had telephones at home.

Many a time a bewildered person would be asked if there was someone standing outside the phone box and could I have a word with her.

The best one was when I had to get in touch and rang the phonebox one evening on spec.... someone answered the phone while passing by, I asked him if he could cross the road to the street opposite and knock on the door of the second house down on the right and ask if my girlfriend could come to the phone... he was a bit surprised but he did!

 

[perplexed]

Well, not as a child, and not bike related, but:

Famous military actions from history. The one which springs to mind occured outside a pub one summer's evening in the beer garden, and requests were taken from other patrons. One of the requests was "Do the Dambusters raid!"

So we did.

About 6 or 8 of us piled up on top of each other, sort of curled up into balls. These people formed the "wall" of the dam.

Then, two of the bigger lads picked up the smallest chap. The bigger lads were the Lancaster bomber. The smaller lad was the bouncing bomb.

The "Lancaster" withdrew to the other end of the beer garden. The "bomb" was curled up, and firmly grasped by the "Lancaster".

The "Lancaster" then "flew" across the garden at full pelt. About 6 or 8 feet away from "the wall", the "bomb" was released and lobbed at the wall.

The resulting carnage gained large cheers of appreciation, and a reasonable amount of free beer. At only the cost of minor bruising.

 

[Aperitif]

RE: A-T's post just above...^ You'll be denying that you used to defraud the Post Office by 'tapping out' her number on the spring loaded cut-off buttons next...

 

[Maz]

When I saw 'skidding competition' in the title, I immediately thought of skidding on ice.
We used to make lethal skidding strips on the pavement from compacted snow and ice. Must've been about 30 ft long. Used to do a run-up and skid along for aaaaages. A glass-smooth strip that beautifully reflected the amber street lights. God knows how many old dears came a cropper on their - sorry folks!

 

[vernon]

When I saw 'skidding competition' in the title, I immediately thought of skidding on ice.
We used to make lethal skidding strips on the pavement from compacted snow and ice. Must've been about 30 ft long. Used to do a run-up and skid along for aaaaages. A glass-smooth strip that beautifully reflected the amber street lights. God knows how many old dears came a cropper on their - sorry folks!

We used to do the same in the playground we I was in junior school and high school. The ultimate slide was on a pond in a farmer's field. I wonder when the ice was last thick enough to slide on it.

At the first sign of a slide in a playground now, rocksalt is deployed.

 

[Archie_tect]

Ah, I'd forgotten the infant and junior school playground icy slides... ours sloped so you could go for miles and everyone queued up for a go [including our headmaster!]... often took a few play-times to get it perfected!

 

[Maz]

At the first sign of a slide in a playground now, rocksalt is deployed.

It's political correctness gone mad!

Or is it common sense? I always get those two mixed up...

 

[vernon]

It's political correctness gone mad!

Or is it common sense? I always get those two mixed up...

It's neither.

It's over zealous application of Health and Safety rules.