The wife and I enjoy watching the Waltons. I wouldn't call us super fans or anything like that, but we have watched them a great deal simply because there is little else that interests us at that time frame. Anyway, we were watching that show last evening when the school teacher, Miss Hunter is leaving the school to go to Ikes general merchandise store. John Boy encounters her and offers her a ride.They have quite the discussion along the way, she encouraging him to write a novel. It seems like a long drive to that store, although we are both aware the cars in those days weren't very speedy. Stick with me you have to invest yourself into the story. So my wife says that would have been a long walk! I agree, but say it probably wasn't more than a mile or two.
That began a discussion, well really more me rambling on as I am prone to do, about how when we were young we would walk such distances without hesitation or thought. It's true, at least for me I know it was. I would walk , going upstreet we called it, a distance of about three miles without giving that a thought. I was just going to the 5&10 or wherever. I did ride my bike on occasion but that didn't last long. At first I was too young to ride my bike that far, walking was alright, and then I got too " cool " to be seen riding a bike. I walked to the beach to go clamming or fishing anywhere from a quarter of a mile to several miles away. Damarks Deli, our version of Ike's, although Mary only sold food, beer and cigarettes', was less than a half mile from home and I often walked there several times a day. My wife thought it would be nice if we still did that today. I agreed that it would, as long as it wasn't raining, too hot, too cold, or uphill, downhill, muddy or through the snow. Strangely I don't recall encountering any those conditions often back in the day. Is that a result of climate change? I do remember one incident with the snow. Mom had given my sister and I a dollar to store to the store for a loaf of bread, a half gallon of milk, and we could get a candy. Yes, a dollar was enough. On the way there we somehow dropped that dollar and couldn't find it anywhere. We looked and looked and panic began to set in, we lost a dollar! So we came up with a plan, we just went to our Aunts' house, she lived along the route we had to take, explain the situation and ask for help. Aunt Bet ( Betty ) was understanding and gave us a dollar to replace the lost one with the promise to never tell. As far as I know, she never did. Thing was in the spring when the snow melted we found a dollar on the side of the road. Was it the same one? I don't know but we believed it was. Did we return that dollar to Aunt Bet? No, we spent it at the store. I like to watch the Waltons' but I ain't a Walton.
As we talked, the wife listening mostly, we shared stories of when we were young and how things have changed. I would leave the house with the order to be home by suppertime. No cell phone tracking my whereabouts, no pack back, not even a water bottle with me, I would just set out. I didn't call home to report in, a phone call cost a dime if you could locate a phone booth, and a dime was a bottle of soda! Well, besides Mom wasn't standing around the kitchen waiting for the phone to ring. No answering machines or call forwarding! That call only went as far as the cord would reach. But I was safe enough. There were plenty of adults keeping an eye on me. They would report any wrongdoings to my parents. You had better not be a wise guy or getting into anything! Mom and Dad would know about it before you ever got home!
Now I don't recall the adults doing a lot of walking, they were always driving. I remember not being able to wait until I could drive. It wasn't so much the ability to get where you wanted to go, I still went to the same old places, but it was about being grown up. At least that is what was in my mind. I did venture out a bit further on occasion going to a neighboring town seven or more miles away. Those foreigners were a bit different so I shied away from them for the most part, but they did have bigger and better stores. Also, there were fewer adults spying on you. That's not to say there wasn't cooperation across town lines, there certainly was, it just took a little longer to get reported.
Here in Greensboro I still see groups of kids walking about. There isn't much here to interest them but we do have a playground and a basketball court. They don't cause any problems that I'm aware of. I don't know those kids or their parents. I'm thinking that is the biggest difference these days. The adults in the town barely know each other and as a result they don't know the children either. I know that when I was out and about I would hear, you're Ben Reicharts' boy aren't you? It wasn't really a question, more of a declarative statement. The intent was to let me know they were aware of exactly who I was and I had better behave! It was a veiled threat. I admit it was a deterrent to acting upon some of the bright ideas I would get occasionally. Made me think, maybe that wouldn't be so funny after all. I see some of these kids walking here with cigarettes or vaping tubes hanging out of their mouths! If I knew there parents I would tell. Of course in todays world I might be told to shut up and mind my own business, or worse. But that would be because they don't me and I don't know them. And that is the issue today. Maybe if we all started walking again, kids and parents, we would get to know one another. Might go a long way to improving things. Almost everyone walked in Mayberry, except Andy. Well I do walk a little bit and have noticed people give you funny looks if you are doing that, unless you are dressed in the proper attire that is. You need to be wearing " gear " of some kind to identify yourself as an active person, not some bum who doesn't have a car. If you aren't driving you are probably too poor or lost your license! That's the thinking. If you're an adult riding a bicycle you need to wearing those spandex cycling outfits or old enough to be riding a three wheeler. Well times change I suppose, advancements. Now we have adults paying for memberships to a gym so they can walk on a treadmill. I do remember, as a kid, seeing those machines with a belt on them that wiggled your butt. Woman used them to reduce the junk in the trunk! Mom would say, just get outside and walk a while instead of sitting on the couch, that'll take care of that. Well, we used to take a stroll back in the day, now some walk the mall as a safe alternative. Yes, the world has changed.
That began a discussion, well really more me rambling on as I am prone to do, about how when we were young we would walk such distances without hesitation or thought. It's true, at least for me I know it was. I would walk , going upstreet we called it, a distance of about three miles without giving that a thought. I was just going to the 5&10 or wherever. I did ride my bike on occasion but that didn't last long. At first I was too young to ride my bike that far, walking was alright, and then I got too " cool " to be seen riding a bike. I walked to the beach to go clamming or fishing anywhere from a quarter of a mile to several miles away. Damarks Deli, our version of Ike's, although Mary only sold food, beer and cigarettes', was less than a half mile from home and I often walked there several times a day. My wife thought it would be nice if we still did that today. I agreed that it would, as long as it wasn't raining, too hot, too cold, or uphill, downhill, muddy or through the snow. Strangely I don't recall encountering any those conditions often back in the day. Is that a result of climate change? I do remember one incident with the snow. Mom had given my sister and I a dollar to store to the store for a loaf of bread, a half gallon of milk, and we could get a candy. Yes, a dollar was enough. On the way there we somehow dropped that dollar and couldn't find it anywhere. We looked and looked and panic began to set in, we lost a dollar! So we came up with a plan, we just went to our Aunts' house, she lived along the route we had to take, explain the situation and ask for help. Aunt Bet ( Betty ) was understanding and gave us a dollar to replace the lost one with the promise to never tell. As far as I know, she never did. Thing was in the spring when the snow melted we found a dollar on the side of the road. Was it the same one? I don't know but we believed it was. Did we return that dollar to Aunt Bet? No, we spent it at the store. I like to watch the Waltons' but I ain't a Walton.
As we talked, the wife listening mostly, we shared stories of when we were young and how things have changed. I would leave the house with the order to be home by suppertime. No cell phone tracking my whereabouts, no pack back, not even a water bottle with me, I would just set out. I didn't call home to report in, a phone call cost a dime if you could locate a phone booth, and a dime was a bottle of soda! Well, besides Mom wasn't standing around the kitchen waiting for the phone to ring. No answering machines or call forwarding! That call only went as far as the cord would reach. But I was safe enough. There were plenty of adults keeping an eye on me. They would report any wrongdoings to my parents. You had better not be a wise guy or getting into anything! Mom and Dad would know about it before you ever got home!
Now I don't recall the adults doing a lot of walking, they were always driving. I remember not being able to wait until I could drive. It wasn't so much the ability to get where you wanted to go, I still went to the same old places, but it was about being grown up. At least that is what was in my mind. I did venture out a bit further on occasion going to a neighboring town seven or more miles away. Those foreigners were a bit different so I shied away from them for the most part, but they did have bigger and better stores. Also, there were fewer adults spying on you. That's not to say there wasn't cooperation across town lines, there certainly was, it just took a little longer to get reported.
Here in Greensboro I still see groups of kids walking about. There isn't much here to interest them but we do have a playground and a basketball court. They don't cause any problems that I'm aware of. I don't know those kids or their parents. I'm thinking that is the biggest difference these days. The adults in the town barely know each other and as a result they don't know the children either. I know that when I was out and about I would hear, you're Ben Reicharts' boy aren't you? It wasn't really a question, more of a declarative statement. The intent was to let me know they were aware of exactly who I was and I had better behave! It was a veiled threat. I admit it was a deterrent to acting upon some of the bright ideas I would get occasionally. Made me think, maybe that wouldn't be so funny after all. I see some of these kids walking here with cigarettes or vaping tubes hanging out of their mouths! If I knew there parents I would tell. Of course in todays world I might be told to shut up and mind my own business, or worse. But that would be because they don't me and I don't know them. And that is the issue today. Maybe if we all started walking again, kids and parents, we would get to know one another. Might go a long way to improving things. Almost everyone walked in Mayberry, except Andy. Well I do walk a little bit and have noticed people give you funny looks if you are doing that, unless you are dressed in the proper attire that is. You need to be wearing " gear " of some kind to identify yourself as an active person, not some bum who doesn't have a car. If you aren't driving you are probably too poor or lost your license! That's the thinking. If you're an adult riding a bicycle you need to wearing those spandex cycling outfits or old enough to be riding a three wheeler. Well times change I suppose, advancements. Now we have adults paying for memberships to a gym so they can walk on a treadmill. I do remember, as a kid, seeing those machines with a belt on them that wiggled your butt. Woman used them to reduce the junk in the trunk! Mom would say, just get outside and walk a while instead of sitting on the couch, that'll take care of that. Well, we used to take a stroll back in the day, now some walk the mall as a safe alternative. Yes, the world has changed.
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