Even before I took up serious badminton, I rarely spend time at home. Mornings in school, and a brief afternoon at home. When the clock struck 5pm, I HAVE to go out. It felt as though I was programmed that way. Of course, there was some sort of attraction out there which is so hard to resist.
When I got my first REAL bike, a Lerun mountain bike, I'd spent afternoons just cruising around the neighbourhood. It was fun. There were ugly scenes aside from the fun too: The terror of getting chased down by a bunch of gila dogs. I was on two wheels and a chain, how to outrun a bunch of dogs on 4 legs?! I got so pissed at times when I got chased down by the same gila dog over and over again that I dropped a few kicks on its head instead of working my legs on the pedals and try to outrun them. I never let them scare me though, cos they can't bite while on the run. Just trying to scare you ofF~
My neighbourhood was a large one. A few residential areas lumped into a one. I can't imagine myself growing up elsewhere. Football field, basketball court, badminton court. Skating rink, sepak takraw, tai chi, line dance. You name it, we've got it, besides gila dogs. But hey, it makes the neighbourhood complete!
I grew up doing alot of running around. One leg jump? I don't know a proper term for that, but its basically splitting the gang into 2 teams, and each of us in a team need to try to chase the others (hopping on one leg!) and tap those from the other team, until they were were all tagged and out, or until you got too tired to continue and pass to other member from your team. If you failed to tag all of the people in the other team with your last person, then its a restart. Torture. But its amazing how we managed to come up with ways to effectively lunge at opponents, suddenly thrusting ourselves towards them and cornering them; otherwise you wouldn't be able to catch any, they're all too fast.
Imagine the blistering heat of the afternoon sun. We play at the cemented skating rink (nobody skates there,anyway). The surface burning hot, so hot you can fry eggs on it. And oh, we play barefooted. -.- I'd lost count of how many blisters I had just having spent one afternoon playing. Then rest for the next 2 days, recover enough, then I'd continue. Even if I was suppose to be resting, I would make my way there and watch others or sometimes played with blistered feet.
Other times, we simply play tag. You can see 15-20 people running around the cemented square with iron handrails forming a full circle in it. I just love running around like that. I was one of those kids who despised rainy days. I would sit out and wait until the last drop of rain is gone, and poof, I'm gone too.
Life was so carefree then, all I care about is curing blisters and basking in the sun. Friendships were born throughout the daily activities, and it was much safer back then to play away from home.
Tag, anyone?
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