May Day

Seem like it was exactly one month ago that i posted this photo for a different semi-holiday. Perhaps i should have waited, because it works today as well - Happy May Day to all the workers doing what it takes to get the job done. When, in 1946, a strike resulted in a shortage of dirty coal, and the lack of coal in turn led to a decrease in the generation of electricity, one enterprising gas station owner thinking outside the box turned to, of all things, a bicycle to power the pumps at his station. Once again, bicycles to the rescue. in the photo, Chicago station operator, Joe Benak pumps the gas, while Dick Frederick turns the cranks on the stationary bike (photo was reproduced in the Carpinteria Herald on the 24th of May 1946).