Categories: First childhood memory, Mikalai Karostsik

Well, do you remember your childhood years?

What?

Childhood years.

Of course, I remember everything.

So please tell me whether you had a bike?

Oh, I had a bike, all ... all the time I had it. When I was small I went to school by bike. Everything. In Polish times people had bikes very seldom. Only in Krypultsy – it was a wealthy village, each child had a bike if the school was far away. Well. It co… cost 120 Polish zlotys. It was the cost of 50 puds of bread. Well. Not everyone could buy it. It wasn’t easy.

And when did your father buy it?

There was such an English company in Budslav. The bike was called «Nyoman». And so these spare parts … were sent from England to Poland, they were put together, and there were such specialists who sold the bikes. One could buy everything by installments. And these bikes too. In Poland there wasn’t an in-house plant. There was an assembly plant there, such a plant. 

Were there any motor cycles?

What?

Were there any motor cycles?

There were some, but very seldom, only civil servants possessed them. There were just few cars. Well. There were two passenger cars in the region. Slatvinsky, Gziazdzilauski and doctor Dalginau had cars. There was a doctor called Sadousky. Passenger cars… So we were walking along the highway. And when a car had already passed we ran to see and measure the width of the wheels. We were running through the gardens. It was a car that passed. Well. So they used to come very often. That’s it.

Researcher: Олег Коляго, старший преподаватель, ГрГУ имени Я. Купалы