Dicing With Death

A Memory of Hatch End.

In my day there was a triangular grass island where Old Redding met the Oxhey Lane; that possibly saved my life. What is not apparent from the photo is that Old Redding is a 1 in 9 incline. One day, whilst seeking more exciting places to use my go-kart (that is an unpowered vehicle comprising four pram wheels on a wooden plank with rudimentary steering and no brakes) my chums and I decided to try our luck at Old Redding.

On the first run, gaining on the Morris going down ahead of me should have been a clue; an impact was avoided by running onto a convenient piece of verge to slow down.

On the second run, my brake linings (i.e. my shoes running on the road surface) gave out; there was no more verge; only the grass island; that was just enough.

There was no third run.