At first you ride alone through life on a single bike and then; against your better judgment it happens, love or some such thing and before you know it you’re trying to ride a tandem. Peddling together is harder than you can imagine with falling off from time to time and deciding whether you want to get back on or not, a painful business but you have to fall off several times it seems, before you learn to expertly ride the thing. Now where did this idea come from, I hear you cry, well I’ll explain.
My dad has an anecdote that he used to re-count, that went on the lines of: - as a boy he and his brother couldn’t afford a bike, so when they found a tandem dumped in the local pond they decided to clean it up and give it a spin. It took them a few attempts to get the hang of setting off and stopping. ‘Now Pete, get ready to push off’ I could hear my dad’s voice as the story un-folded and could picture the two young county boys in the forties, giving this new venture of theirs a go.
My dad; being the eldest would be up front and he said it always puzzled him how it felt a little harder to peddle more than others but it was the hills that got him perplexed the most. There weren’t too many hills were they lived in East Anglia but when they came across one it seamed mighty hard going for two strapping lads peddling together. Looking around one day, my dad found out why; my Uncle Pete would take his comic and read it going up the hills and when they reached the top would peddle like mad down. Well I suppose it was the closet thing to a roller coaster that they had in those days. After my dad found out Pete’s little secret they would take it in turns to go on the back so the fun was shared. Through all the hardships that both brothers had in their lives, neither of them took life or themselves too seriously, a wonderful attitude to have and one I endeavour to achieve.
Well, one day while cooking, cleaning and answering questions from both the children and my husband, it came to me that I was the one peddling up the hill while everyone else was taking it easy and the image of the two boys made me see that some fun could be had with this particular analogy. Thinking about them peddling together up and down hills, taking time to get off the bike and enjoy life around them (mostly through mischief making) and pulling together when needed. I now can be heard; often it has to be said, shouting out ‘Hay Guys I’m peddling on my own again!’
While recovering from an operation I needed a little light relief with some short stories and poetry; not being able to find one book that had both in I had to carry three or four books around with me. I started thinking about the tandem thing and to recount and explaining the comparison between marriages and riding a tandem; with a reluctant peddler on board, to my friends. We had a great time with this idea and when passing; in the school playground, a comment or two can be heard about peddling hard or ‘Sod it, I’ve stopped peddling altogether!’ The two ideas switched a light bulb of an idea on in my imagination and I began to put together an anthology of stories, anecdotes and poems. But this sort of book is mostly kept for competition showcase and my work is best put on a blog. Lucky blog?
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