transport

I used to believe…

When I was young I got onto a bus with my sister and asked the driver for a one whole fare. The driver took some time explaining to me that I actually wanted two half fares, but for some reason I could not understand why two half fares did not make one whole fare.

I used to believe…

As a child (In UK), I believed that all cars had to drive on the left, except cars that were coming the other way. Of course Police cars and Ambulances were allowed to drive down the middle of the road.

I used to believe…

When I was very young I remember my parents taking me on our first holiday abroad. It was to Italy, and as air travel was expensive then, we went on what was known as "the boat train". They led me to believe (or maybe it was my imagination!)that we took the train down to Dover where it was loaded on a boat and sailed to France- was them offloaded and continued it's journey.

I remember trying to work out how long this boat must have been!!!

I used to believe…

when i was small, about 4 or 5, i used to think that the arrows that flash on the instrument panel when you turn on the turn signals told you where to go when you got lost.

i used to think that large trains worked by remote control, because i never saw the drivers. i also thought that subways didn't have tracks and could just slide along like worms in tunnels. growing up in country south australia, this belief lasted a long time, as i had never seen a subway until a trip to sydney when i was 9.

I used to believe that cats' eyes in the road were the dwarves' lanterns shining as they came home from work - and the reason you couldn't see them on the road when you looked behind was because the dwarves had been scared by the car and turned them off to hide themselves.

I used to believe…

My brother told me that little men lived under the traffic lights to make them changed.

I used to believe that little men with torches ran under the road at night, lighting up the cats' eyes so that Dad could see where we were going.
They were related to the little men who turned on the light in the fridge when I opened the door.

I used to believe…

A grade-school friend tried to convince me that the chassis of a car was called the "fuel sladge" and it was what made a car go fast. I knew better. I already knew it was the gas pedal!

I used to believe…

my sisters led me to believe that there were very small men inside traffic lights who would control the lights when they saw the cars lining up.

my parents also managed to convince me that the television only worked for the half hour sesame street was on. when i went to other kids' houses and saw their televisions on all the time my parents convinced me that they had special televisions. i don't know why i didnt just try to turn the thing on.

I used to think that the Australian road sign "No Through Road" meant that you were only allowed in that street if you lived there or were visiting someone you knew. It was a few years later I learned that it just meant it didn't comeout into another street.

I used to believe…

One day, when I was litte girl, we went for a family drive. Being at the "what is that-why is that?"age, I asked my Dad what the handles on the roof of the car were for. He replied, in a convining way, that they were for holding the roof on in high winds and when driving down the motorway. From then on there were wry smiles whenever I helpfully offered to 'hold the roof on'..!

I used to believe…

When I was 5 and went on a plane for the first time, I kept looking for the Care Bears in the clouds. I was very dissappointed I didn't see them.

I used to believe…

When I was very young my mother and I would often take a back road to go home. My mom called this "the invisible road" because when we drove on it we became invisible. To prove her point she would tell me to watch as other cars went by. The people in the cars would not look at us. Why? Because we were invisible of course!
To this day when I go home to visit I will often go miles out of my way to drive on the "invisible road".

I used to believe…

Before WWll, when there was growing air activity, I would watch the aircraft fly over and I believed that the sound of the engine was caused by the tail of the aircraft being dragged along the sky

I used to believe that when you pressed the red button on the dash board, the car would blow up, i later realised it was the button that activated the hazard lights.