Sunday, March 11, 2007

sunday rugby >> mods & rockers

I had no idea that when I went over to newquay, (surfcity uk), cornwall to take ben to play rugby today. that I would be writing about mods & rockers when I got home. it was in the car park as we work leaving that I caught site of this scooter (left), the owner was very busy on the phone so I didn't talk to him but the machine was original and had been painstakingly restored I had to get a picture.

I grew up near brighton (actually born in brighton) on the sussex coast of the uk but I am just a bit too young to have been involved in the mods versus rockers battles during the mid 60's. I remember we always had to park the car (my dad had a grey vw beetle 1200) away from the seafront when we went to the beach on holiday weekends, as cars parked on right next to the sea often got sometimes got damaged. I remember very clearly noticing a real difference in the way people dressed, and just how incredibly import it was we used to talk about it at school one thing we did do was wear our caps in different ways to show which we were, I will leave you to decide which I thought were cooler, have to say it has changed over the years.

I also remember my mother speaking of her surprise that those nice, clean, modern dressers (mods) would want to get involved in fights!
I am sure some of you will be too young to remember or for that matter understand the difference between a mod or a rocker, nor will you care whether the scooter in the picture was a vespa or a lambretta. even that the size of the turn-up on your (italian) suit trousers had to be a certain size (mods), or how long you had worn your 'oily jeans' (rockers).
I love the fact that one person on a scooter can bring back such clear visual memories of my childhood days in brighton.
See film clips

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