WHEELIES

I was thinking about the decline of the bicycle bell a while ago. That sound seemed to belong to a simpler, friendlier age. I don’t know if you remember, but that nostalgic thought was interrupted by a guy doing a wheelie.

Back wheel on the ground. Legs angled outwards for momentum, and front bike-wheel jutting into the air, giving the whole contraption of boy-and-bike, the appearance of a mechanical rooster.

I was waiting for the bus this afternoon when I was passed, by three spindly teenage boys, once again with front wheels spinning in mid-air. One of them caught my eye, as another (mopped hair, white t-shirt, sullen look) wheelied by in front of him.

“Are you seein’ that?” He shouted, grinning with admiration. “He’s got a broken collarbone as well! Cracking i’n he?”

That, I thought, is a great picture of being young: a friend with a broken collarbone does wheelies in the middle of an A road, and his mates see it as bravery, rather than what it actually is: stupid.

I didn’t have time to reply. They were off, wheeling down the road, looking for hens.

I think the problem is being able to see further than the thing in front of us. Every decision has consequences, some that stretch into the far distance, and some that don’t. Often, choices have a sort of implicit equation-balance that we have to quickly calculate: one more drink? Drive home? Take a taxi? Stay in this job? Look after my family?

It seems to me that experience is our maths teacher, and unfortunately, it takes time to learn the algebra - there aren’t really short cuts. Crumbs, I’m still learning! I’ve come out to the park tonight on the worst hay fever day of the season! I weighed up a pleasant evening watching the sunset, and forgot altogether that I might be sitting here with a throat on fire and a streaming face.

Sunset park? Grown up wheelies, in a way, isn’t it? Trying to see the thing in front of you, and the view’s obscured. Perhaps we all need a little more wisdom about our choices and where they lead - and not just the young people. Plenty of road ahead.