When I was in high school my best friend had a paper route, it was an evening paper so he would go home after school and roll the newspapers, put a rubber band around them, and stuff them in a giant canvas bag. Then the bag goes over the shoulder, hop on the bicycle and go up and down the streets of the neighborhood; he of course had the route memorized and knew when to throw left or right or both ways. On Saturday evening it was much larger paper and took two trips or so to get them all delivered since they wouldn’t all fit in the bag. If it was raining we put the papers in a little plastic sack, but that costs more so we only did it if it was supposed to rain. I’m writing all this down because nowadays not many people read the paper (duh) and the ones that are still delivered are usually delivered by someone driving a car, not some kid earning money after school, and they always wrap them in plastic because so many homes have lawn sprinklers. At least around here. I don’t remember the last time I saw a young (under 18 years old) person deliver newspapers.
Several of us would go over to his house a lot of days and roll the newspapers; many hands make light work and it was a great time to chat. His mom would sometimes sit by the fireplace and have a cigarette and talk to us about school or girls or whatever. We also loved to watch TV, and Barney Miller was on reruns during that time. Other days we would put on Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin (like the day John Bonham died).
But Barney Miller is one of the best TV shows ever. Says me. Partly because of the awesome theme music, which is up there in the top ten TV theme songs on my list.
A few times if he was out-of-town I would throw the papers for him, it always took me about four times as long to do the same task. He was a freaking machine. I didn’t have a paper route, when I was 15 I started working janitorial and fast food jobs. We didn’t have cell phones and $4 gasoline to pay for back then, so a little went a long way.
I don’t know that the powers that be would make a show like this anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOj5Zmi4dwA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48URjmAtGUE