I said to my wife
think might start taking a piece
of my childhood back
In reading the article, Yes, People Will Pay $27,500 for an Old ʻRockyʼ Tape. Hereʼs Why by David Streitfeld in the New York Times (April 18, 2023), I thought this passage stood out.
I said to my wife, ‘I think I might start collecting tapes,’” Mr. Carlson, 43, said. “I was taking a piece of my childhood back.”
Many others are, too. The stock market, real estate and cryptocurrencies did poorly in 2022, but the global luxury goods market grew 20 percent. People may have had less, but they spent more on fine arts and collectibles that serve no function except to provide pleasure.
The culture is bursting with new material — every day, thousands of new books are published and 100,000 new songs are released on Spotify — but the old stuff offers a sweeter emotional payoff for many. It could be tapes or posters or pictures or comics or coins or sports cards or memorabilia. It might be from their childhood or the childhood they never had, or it might merely express a longing to be anywhere but 2023.
I liked the lines, “People may have had less, but they spent more on fine arts and collectibles that serve no function except to provide pleasure.” and “It might be from their childhood or the childhood they never had, or it might merely express a longing to be anywhere but 2023.“
It might be from their childhood or the childhood they never had,
… or it might merely express a longing to be anywhere but 2023.
I work on an Island where one of the big attractions is bike riding.
I do NOT mean cycling.
While there are cyclists on the island with their … interesting … outfits and skinny little bicycles, I am talking about bikes and bike riding.
Bikes and bike riding from like when I was a kid.
Big fat tires.
Big fat seats.
Big fat seats on big fat seats I guess you could say.
No gears.
Back pedal braking.
No helmets.
I watch these people and I ask myself how could they spend all that effort and time and money to get to this island and then torture themselves on one of those bikes.
Then I understood.
The guy who flew in here on his private jet and stayed in his private place on the ocean, drove into town with his wife, parked outside a bike lot and said to his wife, “I am taking a piece of my childhood back”.
It might be from their childhood or the childhood they never had.
It might merely express a longing to be anywhere but 2023.
It would serve no function except to provide pleasure.
And the guy rented a bike.
A bike with big fat tires.
A bike without gears.
A bike with a pedal brake.
And the guy got on the bike, and put his big fat seat on the big fat seat and pedaled off.
He pedaled off without a helmet and felt the breeze in what was left of his hair.
It might merely be a longing to be anywhere but 2023.
It would serve no function except to provide pleasure.
He took a piece of his childhood back.
Put a price on that.
