If you were one of the lucky ones and you lived in an area where the street in front of your home was paved with good ole asphalt mix (not black pitch eh… that used to melt under the hot sun and was soft around mid day) then you probably had a skater or had fun in groups with a good ole ‘Trolley’.
Kids back in the ole days were very creative and selective pieces of wood were cut and put together with door clamps and bearings from car wheels to make the classic skater. Damn they were noisy on the paved road surface but we had loads of fun racing. If you did not do a good job with the construction and one of the clamps should dislodge while racing then the result was a classic ‘white man’ bruise… gosh those hurt.
The Trolley was another one that really got everyone hurt at the same time. The construction was simple; a long piece of wood that could seat at least four persons behind the person steering the contraption with bearings used as wheels was used to race on the road. The trolley was guided with ones feet on the front axle (pushing left and right) or with rope tied on either end. Power came from behind with a long rod anchored to the back and as many who could hold on to the rod pushing.
It was a race that usually ended with one or both Trolleys crashing in the drain or simply toppling over spilling everyone on the road (yes some ended up with ‘white men’… but we sure had fun. The older guys would push so hard to cause the driver to lose control and that usually happened if a corner was involved.
Damn, those were the ‘Good Ole Days’.