Our family never had a car when I was growing up in the 40's and 50's. In the small towns we lived in there was no need for one, and no other families I recall had one. When I was in high school in Lestock, Saskatchewan in the early fifties, you could walk everywhere in no time flat. The length and breadth of the town would have been about six round stones, thrown by a husky boy with a good right arm. Because we had to walk every where, we were healthy and have lived a long time and never had to jog or ride a stationary bicycle.
My mother and I went to Regina with Joe Lucas in his truck to buy our first car from a widow we knew, a year old 1949 Meteor. I was amazed. I had never thought of our family up to then, as "car people". I had never seen my mother drive and that was amazing too. I felt as proud as punch for her that day. She was a bit nervous about driving alone on the country roads back to home and took me along for company. We never ever felt the lack of a car prior to that period. I don't remember the topic ever coming up. All the farmers had trucks and in big towns some people had cars but we always had the train to travel on since my dad was a railroader and we had passes.
After we got the car our life didn't change very much at all. We could go to the Touchwood hills to swim in the lakes and pick wild strawberries. We could drive ourselves to Regina to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That was about all the of the cars usefulness was of to me and nothing changed. I never got a drivers licence at that time and went to university that fall, so was car less for the next decade. It didn't seem to matter much since the buses in Winnipeg were good. They are always good when cars are scarce. The car has destroyed public transport. I have never been afflicted with car love.
My mother and I went to Regina with Joe Lucas in his truck to buy our first car from a widow we knew, a year old 1949 Meteor. I was amazed. I had never thought of our family up to then, as "car people". I had never seen my mother drive and that was amazing too. I felt as proud as punch for her that day. She was a bit nervous about driving alone on the country roads back to home and took me along for company. We never ever felt the lack of a car prior to that period. I don't remember the topic ever coming up. All the farmers had trucks and in big towns some people had cars but we always had the train to travel on since my dad was a railroader and we had passes.
After we got the car our life didn't change very much at all. We could go to the Touchwood hills to swim in the lakes and pick wild strawberries. We could drive ourselves to Regina to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That was about all the of the cars usefulness was of to me and nothing changed. I never got a drivers licence at that time and went to university that fall, so was car less for the next decade. It didn't seem to matter much since the buses in Winnipeg were good. They are always good when cars are scarce. The car has destroyed public transport. I have never been afflicted with car love.
RSS Feed