Wednesday 29 March 2017

Life on the farm....The Vehicles.

This is the second post to the series I am doing about the fun I had as a child when living on a farm....You can my first post about moving to the farm.....


It may seem strange me writing about the vehicles that were on the farm considering I was legally too young to drive any of them but I did....

The first thing I remember driving was my dads Fergie tractor when I was about 3 or 4 which looked a lot like this....Just a little more rusted....I of course I was sat on his knee and just steering but that was the start of it....


Over the years on the farm I drove all sorts. JCB's with my brother in the bucket at the front.....I think my Grandad nearly had a fit when he saw my brother in the bucket on the front up in the air....I don't think my mother ever did which is probably for the best.....

My brother and I went to the village school which was about a mile away and it was tiny....Coming from a big town school it was so different....In my year group there was about 8 of us.....My class was actually a mixture of 3 year groups. 


People were brought in from the surrounding villages by bus and I remember on a snowy day the car and van we had just couldn't get through all the snow and the school was still open because the main roads the buses took had been gritted.....Obviously the little country lane which led to our house hadn't been so it so my dad took us in the dumper truck just like the one pictured....Yes my brother and I sat in the front....Fun times!

My dad got us a petrol powered go-cart....He made a track in the paddock with traffic cones and we had a fantastic time going round and round.....We would have 4 laps each and I had, had an extra lap....I just wouldn't stop....The rebel in me....When my brother had a go after the 2nd lap my dad started waving him down to stop.....After my extra lap he had no intention of stopping.....Problem was the engine had caught fire.....Oops! My dad did catch him and nothing serious happened....It's scary to think about it now but at the time it was hilarious!

The go-cart never worked again but we found a new use for it.....The dumper truck came in very handy....My brother and I were allowed to drive it around the farm.....Sometimes around the fields just whizzing about.....We had a great idea....We tied the go-cart to the back.....It was fantastic fun especially if the ground was wet....We would be skidding all over.... 

I remember one day someone phoned my dad and said they had seen my brother on the dumper truck driving past their farm about a mile away.....He had gone to buy petrol from the garage for one of the motorbikes....My dad found him on his way back....He was about 9 at the time and knew fine well he was in the wrong....Oops! He was banned from the dumper for a long time and the motorbikes....Eek!

I learned all about Spark plugs and how to change them thanks to the motorbikes we had.....My brother and I may have fallen off a few times but there was no broken bones or major injuries....Helmets were always worn....We honestly wouldn't go that fast.....

We ended up with a moped at one point just like this one but a baby blue colour and a lot more battered....


It could actually carry my brother, my friend and I as well as a whole pile of other things we needed to transport....We had to position ourselves just right.....Heaviest at the front and start off slowly or it would tip.....lol It was actually ridiculous the amount of things we used to carry on it....It was our vehicle of choice on the farm....

My parents weren't reckless or neglectful.....We were brought up with the vehicles and knew what was dangerous and what wasn't. My brother and I were mostly sensible. I think I actually had more injuries from falling off horses than from any of the vehicles I drove/rode....

6 comments :

  1. The vehicles are my kids' favourite thing on the farm, especially the tractors!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess that when you are living on farm environment and it's all part of daily life then it doesn't seem so bad, but wow! I don't think my Mum and Dad would have let me anywhere near any of those vehicles as a child. My brother's did have go-carts and mopeds though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's it. It was daily life and normal for us. Thank you x

      Delete
  3. What fun it must've been to have lived on a farm. I'm sure as children the freedom must've been fabulous! As for those vehicles, there's no way now children would be allowed anywhere near them...but I bet at the time it was just part of growing up on a farm!
    Lovely memories
    #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fantastic fun! As a parent now I don't think I would let them on the vehicles either. lol Thank you x

      Delete