Pedal the Power

I remember when little and could be between 4 to 7 years old. That major tributary roads were none other than foot-wide ditched sandy road patches with grassy dividers in between. Road shoulders were similarly turf for pedestrians’ soft walking patches.

Not many 4-wheeled motor vehicles were accessible to the common people except “towkays”. At most, these cars were mainly black Morris or Austin. And why black? I do not know. But the main roads would still be the same compacted sand surfaces albeit wider. Not many motorbikes on-road either, and they would be those big BSA, Triumph, or other British-Made types.

I was nearly hit by a car once, across the road from the Cathay Cinema in Kuantan, Pahang, when the family had an outing to see a movie, probably one of those “Run Shaw” ones. My little eyes thought that I could outrun a distant moving vehicle, except that dad was quicker in pulling me back than I was at running. If it weren’t the case, I could be smashed and who knows what I look like now.

Mode of transport for common people back then would be the “Raleigh” bicycles. My father had one, where he cycled to work during his teaching days, occasionally carrying my mum sitting sideways on the saddle bars. At other times, mum walked on the turf road shoulder, while dad cycled alongside, to go to work when they both were teachers at the nearby school, Sekolah Kebangsaan Terutum.


A friend added later:

From : Wan Burhanuddin
Reply-To : jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
Sent : Monday, February 21, 2005 1:11:39 PM
To : jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
Subject : Re: [jublintan65] Pedal the Power

Wonder why u're not Mat Aleigh?
Great pedal power! Saw a Humber myself only to know what a bicycle could do.


Source: http://www.northwilts.gov.uk/print/index/leisure/lt-museums/lt-athelstan_museum/lt_museums_galleries-collections/lt_museums_galleries-bikes_and_trikes_2/lt_museums_galleries-humber_bicycle.htm

POPe