My First Pair of Wheels...
A Photograph is worth ten thousand wards, how often I have heard this and thought about this statement made by (Fred R Barnard. 1927) in the last view weeks. This week I have one of those photos. This photograph documents my very first vehicle that could provide transport for myself and one other light weighted friend (at the back). It was a Christmas gift from my parents, in either 1998 or 1999. Why I am so sure about the dates was because after that we only had white Christmases for many many years to come and certainly not t-shirt and shorts weather for that season. This is because we moved to Europe not much after this photo was taken. With my 3 or 4 years of age getting my first pair of wheels showed me a lot, because after that I learned that independence and being able to move freely as I pleased wasn’t just relaxing for my parents but also made me see the world from a different angle- not from a car window, nor from sitting on a grown ups lap or from the couch but from a hip height at a far faster speed than running or skipping could have provided. It is safe to say that the green scooter wrote history for me and is most likely one of the best gifts a have ever received. When we moved across the globe my scooter came with and it provided more trips then what I can remember to my kindergarden, school, bakery, shops and friends houses. The older I got the more independent I became because of my scooter, I could easily go somewhere without my parents having to drive me, it was far faster then walking and you didn’t need a helmet even though it could out speed the basic bikes. This Green scooter of mine allowed me to be inquisitive, nosy and free, it engraved into me the need of freedom of movement, the fascination of exploring and being able not to be reliant on someone else to get me somewhere. I think my Green scooter will be relevant in 100 years for students who might fide the photograph of my dad, me and my green scooter because in 100 years time children might not know what a scooter is and what feelings of freedom a tool of transport can create. Or maybe they wont know what green grass looks like or how it feels to have received a gift that changed your childhood. In a 100 years from now children will have received different Christmas gifts when they turn 3 or 4 years old and perceive transport very differently to how we see it.
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