You Never Forget Your First...

[prinnysquad]

https://picclick.co.uk/RALEIGH-BURNER-Light-Blue-Mag-20-BMX-style-bike-234225291115.html

Not my first bike, but the first I remember. Even though it was meant to be from Santa, my Dad told me to be careful with it because it cost £111. It was a flabbergasting amount of money for us. My Dad had retrained in his 30s and we didn’t have a pot to piss in. He must have saved for a year. I told one of the plebs on the street about it and he asked how much it cost. I told him, and he mocked me relentlessly. So I took him to my Dad, who was in the garden, and told him to explain how much it cost. He said, ‘111 quid, or I’ll bare my arse in Boots’ window.’ I didn’t have a clue what he meant, but was impressed by the use of the word ‘arse’.

On reflection, the bike looks a bit camp. Nice ride, though, and I did look after it.

[Golgo]

First one I properly remember was a Grifter. The one with the three 'gears' clickable via the right handle grip. Weighed a ton, like a tank. I underestimated the weight of it and had a come-off the very first time I took it out and tried to corner the bastard.

[Brad]

I had a grifter XL for a bit.

[Dogg Thang]

Ah! That logo is great.

[Brad]

Yep, it may as well just say The 80s!

[Blobcat]

I'm pretty sure this was mine, it was originally my sisters. It was really sturdy but we grew out of it very quickly. I remember my next bike feeling much cheaper but it had a cool box with fruit on the back of it to store your stuff in I thought was neat.

I was a trend setter back then

[Neon Ignition]

Time for our next memory share



You Never Forget Your First...

Holiday Abroad

[charlesr]

We used to go to the Isle of Wight all the time. Then we went to Spain and I remember how hot it was and driving past orange tree plantations and the most epic thunder storm. Think I was about ten

[Hirst]

Greek Islands, probably Corfu was the first though I’ve been to most of the major islands at some point. Must have been a while ago as the first plane I went on was a Dan Air 727 with the built-in rear staircase where you enter from under the back of the plane. 1989 or 1990 I’d guess. There were always quite a few arcade machines dotted around Greece at that time - Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Tetris. The bootleg versions of Pocket Gal 2 and the unofficial English translation of Wonderboy in Monster Land were seen often too. Later on you’d start seeing Street Fighter 2, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, but absolutely tons of Gaelco’s World Rally. Love that one.

[Neon Ignition]

Technically it was Cologne in Germany with the ex and her family at the ripe old age of 20. Before that it had always been trips to seaside locations as a kid so not counting leaving the country for a holiday via Wales this was the first time and even then it was only for three days.

I liked it and it was an interesting experience but I find anything abroad that is less than a week really hard to think of as a holiday, plus there is such a scale of similarity to the UK that it kept that feeling of being a trip. There's a lot of the UK I haven't seen so it could almost have been the same experience in many regards.

It was the following year when they took me to the US for the first time that struck much more. The full airline experience and then stepping out of the airport to be hit by the smell, the heat and the full immediate cultural smack of not only being somewhere that in every sense isn't the UK but also was exactly as it appeared in the films and series I'd seen. That was a road trip holiday too, just the most resounding birth of a love affair that led to another five trips back there. Still haven't done anything on the East Coast and crushingly haven't been back in over 11 years... *sigh*

[gunrock]

I had a tricycle first.

Hold tight, I'm not done here!

I too, learned to ride a tricycle first. I used to take corners on two wheels (front and one of the back ones - not a wheelie) and was generally a show off (had some nasty scrapes due to that too). Of course, that made learning to ride a bicycle harder because you don't learn the balancing part. So at the age of 5, I was given my sister's old bike (already 2nd or 3rd hand when she got it) - a pale blue bike called a Gresham Flyer. Took me about 20 mins to learn how to ride on two wheels on a hot summer morning. I still clearly remember what I thought as I got steadily better at riding it: "I can go places and do things - I have freedom!"

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/S-UAAOSwPGNe-yfX/$_1.JPG

The local boys said it was a girls bike, due to my sister owning it before me and the white grips and seat. I think mine had white tyres, too. But I didn't give a ****, well not for a couple of years until the other kids got chop-shop bikes (all nicked and mixed up - to confuse the fuzz) with huge cowhorn handle bars.

Aged about 9, I got another hand-me-down from my sister (already 2nd or 3rd hand, again), but no-one was taking the piss this time around. A cherry-red Raleigh Chopper, what a bike;

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R8zPKbNen2w/TtmBnrL7lEI/AAAAAAAAAFk/zvYE32TnKZU/s1600/1972+ultra+red+mk2+uk+007.JPG

I won't continue, the Huffy Pro Thunder 3 with Motomag wheels is for another day, methinks.

[gunrock]

As for holiday abroad - technically I went on trip with school to the Loire Valley at the age of 13, but an actual holiday without annoying classmates and grumpy teachers, was when I was 18 and I went with my mates to Kos, to the much-less-developed-than-it-is-now town of Kardamena.
We just finished our final exams of our BTech National Diploma in Computer Studies and flew out two days later. We'd been working and saving up for about six months or so.

Never been anywhere so hot or away without my folks, so the fact that I didn't run out of money, get burnt to a crisp, duffed up or alcohol poisoning was amazing. We rode dodgy motor-velos without helmets or insurance to Kos Town and then on the way home rode them up into the mountains. Great fun!

Never got the sought-after other first , but shared a few nice snogs with a couple of ladies over the 14 days, so it was not all bad. When I arrived home my Amiga 1000 had arrived... Great days...

[gunrock]

The nostalgia's getting a bit overpowering in here - my fault - I'll cool my jets and let my fellow forumites get a crack.

[Protocol Penguin]

I'll never forget my first electric vehicle... A Sinclair C5. My dad had two of them at one point, and used to take one to a race track. Was too small to properly ride the vehicle myself until much later though, and they were horrible, basically a big, leaden, clumsy version of a kiddy pedal car.

[fuse]

Actually find it a little sad that the majority of childhood holidays abroad have blended into one in my mind. We'd take the car in the ferry across the channel, later the tunnel, and from there we'd typically be camping somewhere in France, or if we were feeling adventurous there'd perhaps be a German leg to it. I remember stopping briefly in Luxembourg one time, too. My memories are sketchy at best and more than anything I remember sitting round in a tent playing cards, and that whenever we found ourselves in a city I'd always have a keen eye out for an arcade, a habit that remains to this day

I remember there was a school ski trip to somewhere that we couldn't afford, but that I was happy enough staying back given most of my mates were in a similar position. Pretty sure I was at uni and approaching my 20s before I got on a plane for the first time to spend a week in Italy with some friends.