Sunday, January 24, 2010

50s Still . . . and down hill!



Brought to you by our sponsors, S & H Green Stamps!


Freedom for a child in the 50s was a pair of clamp on skates and a new, smooth sidewalk!  On a spring day with a little breeze and some free time, there was nothing more exhilarating then a good skate down a long smooth sidewalk! 

We had two pair of skates like these in our home when I first learned to skate.  There might have been a third pair that weren't as good as these which would have been handy as there were three little girls wanting to skate!  Even by the time I got to use these skates, after my older sisters had moved up to bikes or cars, they were still good skates.  We'd get Dad's oil can and oil the wheels first time out in the spring -- but then those skates would go!

Learning to skate brought skinned hands and knees.  Learning, we would clamp one skate on to our sturdy oxford shoe and practice skating on just one skate.  After getting comfortable on one skate, we'd work up our courage and clamp on the second one!  Look out!  Arms and legs flailing, awkward gait, near falls, a little girl learning to skate was one ungainly sight!  But soon, we would get a rhythm and our balance and it wasn't long until we were off on our own!  Free as a bird, as long as the sidewalk held out. 

You had to use the skate key to go skating.  I would tie my shoestring, tight, and then use the skate key to make the toe clamps bigger and slip the skate onto the shoe.  Strap the ankle strap on and then use the key to tighten the toe clamps on to my shoe.  Do it twice and jump up and go skate! 

Our skate key was usually tied on to a shoelace so as to make it a bigger object and less likely to be lost. I think we probably hung it around a neck while we skated, like a necklace, until it was needed. Mama must have had a spot in the house where the skate key was kept when we weren't skating because it seemed like we had the key when we needed it. Of course, there were 2 or 3 keys around, not just one.  But I remember now, there was a nail just outside the utility room, in the garage, that held skate keys.  Dependably. 


Some little girls could skate backwards.  I had a couple of friends that could do a pretty good job skating backwards and sister Linda could too, some.  If I remember right, Beth was known to be a good skater.  I was an average skater but ohhhh, did I love to skate! 

Mama got these two pair of skates from the S&H Green Stamp Store.  She carried in her Green Stamp books pasted full of stamps and traded them for two pairs of shiny roller skates with red leather straps.  I was always so glad she did.

3 comments:

Kristy said...

I bet you were thrilled to get your new skates! And the building excitement as each new stamp when into that book, not knowing what the prize would be.

Clamp skates, although great at the time, were nothing next to the bright blue "complete" skate that I got a couple of years later. These had white stripes and red wheels. I loved skating all over town (don't cross the railroad tracks) with Joy Spear! I also got told on by Phyllis Feick for skating in the road.

Kristy said...

And, I am talking about the clamp skates that I got for Christmas one year. Just when you'd get going, they'd fall off!

Nance said...

Fun times, skating. Skating brought a little girl some independence -- until she got told on by the neighbor for skating in the street!