Ahh the Penny Farthing. A classically eccentric Victorian machine, that nobody at the time thought ridiculous. I want one. If I were still at school, I'd cycle to and fro on one of these. In fact, I may participate in the cycle to work scheme NOW just to see the reaction.
With an angry expression on my face and with an air of superiority I will peddle my squeaky Penny Farthing frantically down Great Western Road, waving my fist at other drivers and pedestrians, cutting through red lights, switching lanes, undercutting Ferarris and deliberately crash into the side of a bus.
In front of my bus audience, I will angrily try to reconstruct my Penny Farthing with suitably over-the-top Victorian devices.
A gigantic spanner to reattach the peddles and once I get the big wheel to stop spinning, will use the hugely inefficient brass and wooden Victorian pump to noisily re-inflate the pneumatic tires. Even if they aren't penumatic.
There's a noticeable trend in Glasgow, and I'm sure the rest of the UK at the moment, to own and ride a retro/vintage bicycle. I Predict the Penny Farthing is just the natural next step in the contemporary consumer's obsession with reverse evolution. Look out for the increasing number of PFs that are soon to be squeaking about the UK.
What's next, unicycles? Probably. And why not? This is 2011 after all, so let's all be 1811!
Everything in those days seems alien in fact. Think about old coinage! There was a coin called a Penny Farthing too!! And then there was the Half-penny (huffapenny) and the Hapney (hay-pnay)! and often the word "piece" was said after the coinage, and so your granny was saying to grandad: "geez a haypney piece for wur messages!" Imagine cycling to the local shop on your Penny Farthing, to buy cigarettes you thought would help your sore throat. You pay a shilling and your change is a sixpence (sikspince) a haypneypiece n a huffapenny.
Forget the Euro. Let's get back to old money!
Toppsy
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