Saturday, February 28, 2009

Wonderful dream bicycles

H.G. Wells on learning to ride a bike....
"After your first day of cycling, one dream is inevitable. A memory of motion lingers in the muscles of your legs, and round and round they seem to go. You ride through Dreamland on wonderful dream bicycles that change and grow."
...and what happens later:
"I came out for exercise, gentle exercise, and to notice the scenery and to botonise. And no sooner do I get on that accursed machine than off I go hammer and tongs; I never look to the right or left, never notice a flower, never see a view -- get hot, juicy, red -- like a grilled chop. Get me on that machine and I have to go. I go scorching along the road, cursing aloud at myself for doing it."
...and how it staves off despair:
"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race."
...and beyond:
"Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia."

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