Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Speaking of Bananas

With all this talk of bananas and such I was reminded of my first bicycle.
Way back in the olden days, I got for my birthday, a sort of gold/root beer colored Schwinn.
The banana seat type with the mini sissy bar in back and the squared rear tire and the tassels on the handle bars:



That's actually pretty darn close to what my bike looked like!
It didn't have the light though, I guess it was the economy model.
I also think the seat was the same color as the frame.
Boy, I had some adventures on that bike.
I think I lost my two front teeth in different incidents.
One involving a really tall and thick bunch of grass, the other involved a square concrete stepping stone and a water hose.
My cousins and I had wheelie contests and skidding competitions much to the dismay of my mother.
Gee, that rear tire wore out kinda fast.
I also strung up my Panasonic Panapet radio to the handle bars and rode around with some righteous tunes:



If I remember correctly, the chain broke and my radio rolled away, so I got one of these instead:



Good ole Toot a Loop!
It sort of looks like a banana.
Okay, not really.
That's what it looked like open, when you closed it, it formed a loop that you could just hang on the bars.
Back when AM radio was king.
Which was a long time ago.
In another life even.
Anyways, as I was reminiscing about banana seats and stuff, I remembered these dudes:



That's right banana fans!
The Banana Splits!
Okay, actually I don't remember a whole lot about them, all I know is that they had these really cool Banana Buggy cars that I always wished I had:



There was also some place called Danger Island or something with some guys dressed up like skeletons.
These days, a banana split is something I can't eat and Danger Island is how cars and traffic are around here.
I guess the olden days were pretty good days.
In a banana sort of way.

3 comments:

Robin said...

Holy cow, you've stolen my entire childhood! I had all these things. (Except the Toot a Loop. That was a "chick radio" in my school.)

Danger Island was my favourite show (or show-within-a-show) when I was six. Interesting fact about the Banana Splits: they were only on for a few years, during which they were all the rage for any kid in their target demographic. Therefore, you can tell who's exactly your age and who isn't by who was crazy about the Banana Splits.

Makin' up a mess of fun,

Robin
Rusty Ring: Reflections of an Old-Timey Hermit

limom said...

Ah, childhood.
You know you can now watch the entire Captain Scarlett series on youtube?

Kelly said...

The Toot a Loop was my very first radio - I used to climb to the top of the tree in my yard and hang it around a branch. I'd sit there in my own little world with a book, looking out over the ocean 2 blocks away. Good times. :)

And I LOVED the Banana Splits.