John, Tutored by a couple of policemen, I took and passed the cycling proficiency test in the school playground as a kid, a pass was required to allow me to ride my bicycle to school.
Wend I returned to m/cycling in my fifties I thought it best to join in ride outs with the IAM to freshen up my skills, I even bought the police motorcyclists handbook to assist in that process.
Alistair,I think it it is good to discuss and even disagree in an agreeable manner...(-: In such discussion I can then perhaps learn something that might cause me to alter my thinking to some degree on any subject. I come here to learn.
I well understand that the young are precious to their parents, who in many cases may well wish to insulate and isolate their kids from all possible harm.
My parents did not know that I and my then school friends aged circa 14 years old had come by an old 350cc AJS, which we in time managed to get running and kept at one of the friends house that backed on to a large wooded area... We all gained bruises a plenty learning to initially get the thing fired up then dodging trees which taught us numerous valuable skills.
I can`t really imagine many caring parents thinking that m/cycling might be an ideal pastime for their little treasure.
By the time I became employed as an apprentice and thus earning, it seemed obvious by the growing number of Motorcycle Mechanics and "other" magazines taking up ever more space in my bedroom, that as an interest a m/cycle might be a better pastime, than many of the other interests that teenagers can become involved in... (-:
My workplace was dangerous indeed, at a time before elf`n safety, often working at heights or in the cold damp and breathing in dust or air fouled by who knows what....
As for the kids today, well it seems old folk have been complaining about the young since the beginning of time... I feel really sorry for those young folk without a sense of place, sense of purpose minus the possibility to work towards providing a better future for themselves, perhaps smothered in kindness and over-expectation provided by loving mum`s, combined with failed governance of the country`s political systems over decades..?
Failed political systems..? Thinking to the extent that perhaps the bank of mum and dad might be the only plan the young might be able to depend upon to provide "kids" living at home perhaps as old as 40 something, with some sort of financial stability...the future perhaps being dependant on the parents loosing their grip on the perch and leaving the house to the kids, that is IF it has not been re-mortgaged by the parents to provide the "kids" with funding for their necessities, such as cars and holidays over a few decades, while in the process of doing so, creating a large population of dependants, as opposed to those striving to succeed..?
To use an MP as any sort of example based upon decisions made for the overall common good would generally be a mistake, though it seems there may be at least some who may give it their best shot...?
Link posted in the soap box..
