transport

I used to believe…

my sista used to believe that wen buses broke down it was because their batteries had run out....

I used to believe that when you crossed over a bridge, you had to actually drive over the top of it. So your car would have to reach the top points & I thought we would fall into the water. The first time I remember going over a bridge was the Mississippi River & I was scared to death that we would fall off the tip of one of the points. When we got closer I realized that there was a road you drove on under the supports.

I used to believe…

Once my mum came home from a shopping trip when I was about 5, saying that while driving home the she had been 'drawn like a magnet' towards some shop or other. I couldn't work out how this was possible, imagining as I did the car being attracted by a huge horseshoe shaped magnet floating in the sky!

I used to believe…

When I was a little kid the "Put on your seatbelt" light came on in the car and I asked my dad what it was and it looked like a bench so my dad said it would come on when the car wanted him to take me to the park. I totally believed him!

I used to believe…

When I was little I believed that the inside every stoplight there were a team of little men that worked to make the lights turn from color to color.
When I was little, I thought that each stoplight had three floors; one for each color. I envisioned gears of all sizes twisting and turning; staircases and ladders located on every floor; but the key element was these little, elf-like men the size of your finger. I thought of the men being short and a little scruffy kind of resembling Ernie; the advertising face for Keebler Fudge Striped Cookies. All the men on each floor worked together, every time the lights changed.

I used to be terrified of the hook that you can hang your clothes on in the backseat of the car. I thought the screw in the middle was it's eye and the hook was it's finger. I always had to sit in the middle.

I grew up in the poorest country of the hemisphere (Nicaragua) where automobiles are mainly rich's people luxury. In my early twenty, and quite a good looking girl, I used to think that cars' blinking lights were a compliment to me -- like when people wink!! (Usually a man's wink, in Nicaragua is considered a compliment)
Not that I am so vain, just naive.

I used to believe that motorway pile-ups meant cars literally stacked one on top of the other. When I read about a "3 car pile-up" it amazed me that cars could crash in such a way that they'd be sitting on top of each other!

I used to believe…

When I had just turned 4, I was on my first plane flight. When I asked what the paper bags were for, my dad told me that when you're very high up in a plane, you ears pop.

He then explain that the bag was for catching your ears, so they don't float away.

I had images of all these ears popping off, and all the passengers trying to catch them!

I used to believe…

When i was a young teenage driver, whenever my car battery needed to be "jumped off" with jumper cables, i thought it was called "jacking off" my car, and i proceeded to ask someone to "jack off" my car on several different occasions - oops! :)

I have always loved cars and driving since I was a little girl. I remember thinking to myself that all the cars on the streets were actually in a line. There was someone in the beginning of the line as there was in the middle and end going where everyone had to go. I always wondered where the first person was and where they will stop so the next person can be first in the line.

I grew up in south London, and there was a London Underground line and a main line railway near us. Both were electrified with live rails, so I thought all railway lines were live, until one day we went to a preserved railway. As we were walking around the depot yard I said to my Mum "It's dangerous to step on these tracks. Aren't they live?" To which she answered that that was only on the Underground and the Southern Region (and a few other places such as Merseyside). My Mum tells me that as a child she had likewise thought that all railway lines were live. It didn't occur to her that steam trains didn't need live rails! Still, I suppose it is safe to think that, as it deters you from trespassing on railway lines!

I used to believe…

When I was little, we used to take car trips a lot, and from time to time we got a flat tire. From watching my dad change flats, I believed that the hubcap was what held the tires on the car, and if you didn't put it back on, your tires would all fall off. I figured that's why there were all those places along the road with hubcaps for sale - in case you lost one.

I used to think that when you got to a stoplight that there were cars coming in your direction on the other side in the same lane. I would always ask my mom "What happens if the both sides of the street fills up?" She never understood what I was talking about.

I used to believe…

when i was little i used to believe that if you stepped over the yellow line on the platform at the train station that the train would whoosh past and you would get caught on it and never be seen again

I used to believe…

The handicap parking signs were a great mystery to me when I was young. The parking spots were always near the door, and I could never interpret the symbol. I concluded that these were special spots for people who had to use the restroom, because it looked like a person sitting on a toilet and it was so close to the entrance.