LIZARD in a LAB COAT

S.E.D.J. Day 27 - A Return to The South Bank

2012-01-28T22:22:00.000Z

I'm putting Day 26 behind me and moving on. Parking my bike on SOHO square was the first step in avoiding any repeat performance of getting blocked in. Knowing that I had to pop over the rive to the South Bank was another source confidence that Day 27 of SEDJ would go off without a hitch. Today was going to be a bit of a re-union with one of my oldest mates Howie. We used to skate together back when we were about 14 onwards and the South Bank was always the first spot one on our regular trips to London with the rest of the Wokingham crew. So skating there with Howie again, even for half an hour, was going to be good lunch break.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is the bit were I start telling you how it all went wrong and how I'm on the verge of murdering the bastards responsible.. but not this time.

Howie sampling the new-ish offerings

Ten minutes over Westminster Bridge and I'm underneath the Royal Festival Hall, Howie is already there and Martyn turns up seconds after I've said hello to H. Bikes locked, helmets and jackets stashed and off we go. I was all about the banks, they're are definitely my favourite thing about what is left of the original undercroft. Martyn was hitting the blocks and Howie was sharing it out all over the place. We were all loving having the undercroft almost to ourselves with only another four guys skating and was starting to bring back memories of the first time we ollied the seven, not that I was bout to throw myself down them on this visit.

Martyn shows how nose-manuals should be done.

As with all these lunch time skates it was all over too quickly but after this there is only one left on Monday so I could handle going back to work: plus the fact I was going to be skating with Howie again on Day 28 at Tolworth. Thanks to Howie and Martyn for coming out and keeping me company.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 26 - Done Over By White Van Man.

2012-01-27T10:39:00.001Z

Another lesson learned today. If I have a lunch-time smash'n'grab session planned, do not park in the mews at the back of our building. Because twats like the guys driving these two vans will work together to block the entrance as comprehensively as possible making it impossible to get my motorbike out and head to the spot of the day. not only that but arguing the toss with them lost me too much time so I couldn't even go for a street skate around Soho and the West end... oh and my frame of mind was more one for slashing tyres than shredding streets.

Wankers

When I'd finally calmed down I realised that I could get to the Kingston Car Park later that night. I sent the e-mail with the change to the plan, sent texts to car park stalwarts but everyone had other commitments or plans; meaning this was going to be the first official solo skate of S.E.D.J. I didn't really have a problem with that. It was Day 26 after all so I was due a bit of a disaster and at least I had an alternative to the planned skate.

Car Park

One thing that did pop into my mind about half an hour in was, how am I going to show this on the blog. Shots of car parks are not really that interesting. As you can see above. Last time I got away with filming a nose manual, I suppose I'll have to film something again. This is starting to drift into "vanity-blog" territory. I know people don't want to see photo's or footage of me skating so I've gone to great lengths to minimize any self exposure and I definitely keep my face well hidden. This was made all the easier by the lights getting turned out about 5 minutes after I'd remembered I needed some content for the blog.

Day 26 was a day of contrasts, an emotional roller-coaster of anticipation, annoyance, anger, frustration, acceptance, hope, determination, fun and mild embarrassment. Despite the set-backs I got the skateboarding bit of the day sorted and another day in January is ticked off as a success.

Day 27 is a lunchtime visit to the Undercroft, The South Bank. I can't even remember the last time I skated there but I'm looking forward to going back... I'll be there from 1.15pm.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 25 - Snakes on a Ramp, Must be Wednesday Night at Playstation.

2012-01-26T00:07:00.001Z

Come on brain, don't let me down now. I can handle the physical knocks and and aches but if the brain goes then I'm sunk. All it will take is for me to get my days mixed up, think that I'm skating that night, miss my lunch-time window and that Rach is out past 11 meaning I can't get out to skate before the clocks strike twelve and I turn to a pillar of salt and the S.E.D.J. dream comes to a rather pathetic end.

That is one possible outcome and there are thousands of versions similar. Tonight was just one such version. Unfortunately you, dear reader, are the unsuspecting victim of this cerebral meltdown.

Earlier today i needed to grab some images off the Lumix for the last blog entry, I managed to leave the camera on after downloading the shots. So when I reach into my bag while a t Playstaion/Bay66 tonight I spot the battery is already dangerously low. So low in fact that i get two useless frames before it dies. See, nothing groundbreaking, just forgetting to unplug the bloody camera. As a result YOU have to put up with these shockingly bad photos to the guys at the session, who were: Johners, Irish Steve, Jamie, Alan, Jack, Awadh, Jotham and Kev.

Alan, Steve, Jamie (hidden) and Awadh ready for snakeing.

An out of focus Jotham.


A badly lit and red-eyed Jamie, and Alan were both on fine form

Adam was being all shy again.

We spent the first half of the session having a Wembly Gap session over on the street course and then the obligatory snake session on the mini. I couldn't shoot any actual skating as the HTC Phone I've got is worse than useless in that regard. Despite the camera fuck-up I'm happy with Day 25, I had a good skate, got backside 180's up the gap again and it looks like I'm going to get to bed before one o'clock.

Day 26 is another quick lunch-time visit to Meanwhile II/Royal Oak, aiming to be there for 1.15pm for a half hour skate and then it's back to work. You know the drill, if you are about....

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 24 - Robotic Monotonous Car Park Training

2012-01-25T11:09:00.004Z

S.E.D.J. is obviously a skateboarding based challenge. But to be honest a ot of the real challenges lie in the not skateboarding side of things. Timetableing being the major one and physical maintenance and recovery and, believe it or not, the blogging bit all make demands.

Day 24 was a perfect example of that. Tuesday's are the day I pick up baby Harper from childcare, so once I'd collected her and got her home, play with her for a little while, which actually means desperately trying to distract her from grabbing all the stuff she's not allowed to, which is basically all the expensive/interesting/dangerous stuff. Next up is bath time, one word.. awesome. Then it's feed, brush her two teeth and bed. So now that she's in bed it was time to feed myself and cook-up some purées for Harper's lunch, so it was all chopping, steaming, blending for a while, then I had my food just as Rach get's back home. Then I get my shit together and head to Kingston to meet up with Sam at the covered car park.

The whole place had that covering of dampness again, I don't mind it really because I kind of have to skate, Sam on the other hand is under no such obligation. Sam's been out for almost all of these Kingston Training sessions and was still out skating with me in a damp car park putting his board as risk of sogginess despite having only snapped his last board at the weekend. Hats off to Sam.

Sam's dead board.

After the weekend my ankle, the bad one, has been in a fairly bad way, put that together with a damp car park what do you get? Nose manual and no-comply session that's what. Yep, it was literally that, Nose-manual attempt, No-comply, Nose-manual attempt, No-comply, Nose-manual and repeat. I did weaken and put some street slides in there just to take advantage of the slidey surface and the odd curb grind but mostly Nose-manual, No-comply, Nose-manual, No-comply, Nose-manual, No-comply.....

It doesn't quite capture the grace of the No-comply does it?

After my breakthrough with the Nose-manual last week there was no way I could stop skating before I made at least one over the prescribed distance. Nose-manual, No-comply, Nose-manual, No-comply.... and repeat, again. Perseverance paid off and I started holding them long enough to cover the distance I'd set myself. Then another problem. What to put on the blog to illustrate this little training session. I tried a couple off my-space style shot's of a No-comply with the camera held at arms length while attempting to get pre-focus sorted and shutter firing perfectly in time with my attempt. Then I had the idea of filming my success on the Nose-manual front. Of the four attempts I filmed, I made two. I suspect I could get obsessed with nose-manual you know.

By this now time was starting to run-out and I heard a text arrive on my phone. It was Rach letting me know that Harper had woken up crying and had been doing so for the last hour. Off home I went. Rach had been looking after Harper all through the night before so tonight was my turn. She was consoled and finally snuffling herself to sleep by 1.00am. Then it was time to wash-up, edit video, do my physio and stretches and get the hell to bed. The skating was the easy bit.

Day 24 has been done. I favored the robotic monotonous training (RMT) style for this one and it feels like it's paying off. Thanks to Sam for keeping me company on such an uninspiring night.

Day 25 is Playstation/Bay66 evening session. I'll be taking this one fairly easy and my even apply the RMT style to learning/cementing a couple of tricks on the mini, if I remember. If you are about, come and have a skate.

But for now you can check out Adam's (Johners) edit of the day's mucking about on Sunday, Day 22 of S.E.D.J.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 23 - Stockwell Skate By Street-Lamp Light.

2012-01-23T23:30:00.003Z

I'm going to be quick again tonight. I need to get to bed before midnight for once. I was knackered anyway but after only 2 hours sleep last night, thanks to a sick and yet strangely mischievous baby, I'm on my knees.

Today was a nice change from the last couple of Mondays' lunch time skates. This time I met up with Adam (Johners) at Sockwell for an hour. We were the only two skaters there. Adam and I share a strange enjoyment of skating Stockwell in the dark in winter; The Park is lit much better than you would think and it's always quiet. The cold is normally the big problem but I think we all understand that you are rarely cold while actually skating.

Adam: Red-Eye Reduction ON

I love this section of the park. Plenty of opportunities to come a cropper.

If you look closely you can see the memory of a Johners shaped carve in the super tight pocket.

You may have noticed that I'd left my digital compact camera at the office by accident so was reduced to my phone. What a pile of crap; oh well. I got the photo's I needed. Day 23 was a good laugh. Hacking it around the park with Johners, having a chat and generally having a nice relaxed skate. Thanks Adam.

Tomorrow is Day 24. Tomorrow is a Tuesday...... so that means a Kingston Car Park Training session. Hopefully see you tomorrow from 10:00pm.

Now, I sleep.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 22 - South London Street Skating Eutopia.

2012-01-23T01:25:00.004Z

I don't see myself as a worrier. I'm generally pretty good at figuring out the stuff that is out of my control and letting fate or the universe or whatever, sort things out. Planning where to skate over the last three weeks has affected my sleep, being able to squeeze in the lunch-time skates has definitely affected my heart rate and blood pressure. Now that I'm only 9 nine days away from the end of Skate Every Day in January I was starting to get a bit obsessive. As with many things in life, sometimes things just happen for a reason. Like today.

We had no real plan other than meet up at Elephant and Castle and go find some street spots. On my ride to E&C the sky looked a little dark and for a split second I thought rain was going to stop play but that feeling passed. As soon as I hooked up with Adam, Ivan, Jamie, Alex and Martyn, any stress-head tendencies disappeared and all I had to worry about was staying on my board, shooting some crappy photos, missing Alex's make on his blunt-slide transfer to grind while on filming duty and laughing a lot.

Martyn going high at E&C wall.

Ivan got the grind, but preferred this shot.

This was the second time Alex made this bluntslide-transfer to 5-0 down the corner.

Refreshment break.

I don't really know what to say about this shot.

Johners' frontside bluntslide transfer close-up.

Alex Wallies over.

Work continues on Jamie's Planking Documentary.

Johners styling out his Front-Rock pop-out.

A blurry compact digital shot of Martyn's Front board.

You don't need a blow by blow account of what happened. It's getting late, I'm completely done-in and writing this is sapping the very last remnants of energy from my brain. Let's just say that Day 22 raised the bar. Skating a real street spot that was so much more fun than it originally suggested and doing it with some of the best people out there.

Day 23 is going back to Stockwell. It's an after work visit this time, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. If you are around I'll hopefully see you there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 21 - Back Garden Skatepark Research - Sunbury

2012-01-22T00:55:00.001Z

This was always going to be better than the last visit. This time it had been dry for just over 24 hours, which at least meant the whole park would be skateable, so it would just be down to how many of the 2 wheeled plague were there by the time I arrived at 11.00am. Happily it wasn't too bad at all. It still made me realize that I'm going to have to get a big enough garden to put something similar to the Sunbury park in there, then I can skate the thing with five or six mates and get the best out of it. A cheaper option would be to just skate Sunbury regularly and then when the long nights of summer arrive and all the little grotes are in bed, it'll be like the place is my own private park.

How Sunbury looks in the wet.

Last time I was here I was the only skater in the park but today I had company in the shape of Mikey and Macey. These two were constantly winding each other up the whole time in the way that good mates can. Really funny to watch. As the first skaters I've met down there it bodes well. I mentioned the S.E.D.J. thing and the blog to them both just as they were about to leave an manged to get them to agree to a photo each for this here blog.

Fakie ollie from Macey in the Bowl.

Mikey boardslides

By then my hour was up and time to get moving. Day 21 was a pleasant surprise in that I got to skate with other skateboarders again. Thanks go to Mikey and Macey for helping out with photos, I'll hopefully be skating with those two guys again. It was also a far less stressful operation, 5 minute drive from my house is much more like it.

Next stop, Day 22. This one is back on the bike an heading to the streets of South London: Elephant & castle and Kennington to be precise. I'm meeting up Johners and a few other at noon and see where the mood takes us. Maybe we'll bump into you.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 20 - Eastbound and Ground Down

2012-01-20T16:24:00.003Z

Let's do some maths.

Add 30 to 30. Then add another 20 to the total you had after adding those two thirties together. What have you got? I'll tell you what you've got; an our's worth of dodging Central and East London traffic with a ridiculously short mini-ramp skate in the middle there somewhere.

I've had Mile End on my list right from the beginning of the Skate Every Day in January adventure. Both then and this morning I trusted the estimated journey time that Google Maps gives you when you get directions. 19 minutes was the time given. NOT correct.

These timings have become critical on the lunch-time smash'n'grab sessions. Minutes count. And knowing where the fuck you are actually going helps too. Now I'm pretty good with maps but maps and motorbikes don't really get on and there's no fucking way I'm having a sheet of perspex with a plastic coated map and loads of bull-dog clops in the front of my bike. Oh no, because I have a smart phone, and google maps and an integrated sat-nav and earphones, that's right.

Stuart... umm, Stuart again and Matt on the mini-ramp.

All this technology is great right up until you hear the disembodied female robot voice announce "GPS signal lost", for fuck's sake! The upshot being that I overshot the park and had to turn back on myself, nearly ended up on the M11 and had a minor altercation with a London Taxi Driver, they're really nice guys aren't they?

Now the good bit. When I made it to the park it had been raining the entire length of my journey and my reason for going to Mile End was the min-ramp. When I made it there I was lucky enough to find myself skating it with to guys called Matt and Stuart, really nice guys, and would you believe Stuart had even heard about S.E.D.J. we think it was via facebook, so that was rad. I felt a bit bad for Stuart who had booked the day off work to skate the park-proper and was being confined to the mini-ramp for the day, he seemed to have come to terms with it though. Yet again I had to drag myself away. I think Stuart and Matt were a bit shocked when I announced that I had to leave only 20 minutes after arriving. Why wouldn't they. I mean, who the hell turns up at a park to skate for twenty minute and then leaves?

Day 20. A Day of extremes. Extreme traveling, Extremely short skate. Extremely stressful deal all round. Yes I got the skateboarding bit ticked off and I learnt a valuable lesson. Keep the session close to base wherever possible.

Now for Day 21. Tomorrow I need to squeeze in a skate between 11 and twelve and am going to go to Sundbury again to try my luck. The weather is talking about showers but again I'm going to risk it and hope that I get lucky. If you're feeling lucky I'll see you there from 11am to 12pm.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 19 - A Second Visit to Meanwhile Two.

2012-01-20T00:14:00.003Z

After my success last night I had great hopes for this lunch-time skate at Meanwhile II/Royal Oak. What could I re-learn. Nose-manuals are now a reality for me, what else could I add to my arsenal, my gun cabinet of tricks. I'm feeling good, the sun is out and when I get to the park there are four other lads skating and following the obligatory exchange of nods I got on with skating.

I got my legs back in working order with a few ollies, some grinds and disasters on the quarter and then a little bit of mucking about on the original bowl section section. Then it was time to start work in getting back my front-side pop-shuvits on the bank. I was probably about ten minutes into the skate by this time.

To my left: The New and to my right: The Historic

Off I go. Doing my version of concentrating on learning a trick. I don't do it like some people. I see people who will drop in or throw their board down, sort their feet out, compress and try the trick. that always seemed a bit monotonous and not particularly fun. My version of that would tend involve a couple of tricks and end with an attempt at the trick I'm trying to learn. You can probably guess that quite often it would go wrong before I got round to attempting the trick I was supposedly learning.

I started doing my usual routine, but after a couple of glances at my watch I realised I was going to have to focus. To cut a long story short... I was setting close, both feet on but steeping of or zooming my board, it was just a matter of time. Yet again, I'd been beaten by the clock and needed to get back on the bike and back to the office.

It's my own fault. i should have just gone full robot-mode and bagged the trick. I'll know for next time. Day 19 was a dry skate with strangers. I was fully expecting to be skating a wet park so I'm happy with the way things worked out and I know that FS Pop-shuvs are within my grasp again soon.

Day 20 is set to be punctuated with showers throughout the day so I'm hedging my bets. Miles end at about 1:20pm. If it's dry I'll skate the park, wet and it'll be the mini-ramp. Let's see how this one goes then?

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 18 - Wet Wednesday and a Car Park as Motivator.

2012-01-19T01:23:00.000Z

Firstly I'd like to apologise to anyone who was heading to Plastation66 tonight to in order to get involved with day 18 of S.E.D.J. I didn't go there tonight because I got tipped f by Kev McKeon and Jamie Harrison that was closed as a result of being too wet. I know. I was pretty sure it hadn't actually rained either.

This news came on the same day that some of the Alter Skateshop guys went to skate the pool at XC Park and couldn't, becaus it was wet. I know. How much did that roof cost and it's unskateable becasue of moisture. Mental!

Once the news about Bay-Station-66Box had sunk in, I realised I would be heading to a certain car park in Kingston, again. This visit would make it the most featured spot so far in the Skate Every Day in January (S.E.D.J.) story, but my hand was being forced.

This is under cover.

The damp reality.

It's probably only 4 board lengths.

Jokingly, kind of, I have made reference to nose-wheelies/manuals (I'm switching to nose-manual so as not to confuse any BMXicans reading this) and my inability to do them. Well tonight my dream came true. The perfect condition for only learning nose-manuals because the whole place was soaking. Here I was at another covered spot and yet water everywhere, brilliant.

Well as it turns out, yes, it was. Last night I'd had a few goes after rolling my ankle but I was over the session by then really and didn't make any progress. Tonight I returned to the world on the nose-manual with the same small challenge set, to do a controlled nose-manual the length of the painted triangle on the car park floor; baby steps. Purely because there was no choice of anything more instantly gratifying to skate, I just kept trying. We all know the story, a crap one, a really crap one, what am I fucking playing at, ooh that was a bit better, acrap one, ooh another ok-ish one that at least felt good (and teases you with the promise of getting it) shit one, shit one, shit one, ok one, shit one YES actually do it, with control. Nice.

Success!

Wet Sucks!

It was at this point I get Sam to take a couple of shots, which seems to focus my efforts as I start making it every other time. Sam wasn't in the mood for having me shove a camera at it so I decide that looking at pictures of wet car parks isn't really going to cut it. This time, just this once, I would go infront of the camera. For your viewing pleaseure I got Sam to keep my face well out of the shot.

At 6 o'clock this evening I was pretty pissed off. I sincerely thought day 18 was going to be a complete wash-out and the worst day yet of S.E.D.J. How wrong could I be? I've had a really fun skate and learnt a trick that has alluded me for a long time. Yet again it's all worked out well somehow.

Day 19 is planned to be at Meanwhile II/Royal Oak from 1:15pm, currently the weather is saying "A couple of Morning Showers", here's hoping they are right or I'll be back to nose-manuals for one more night.

Hope to see you out there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 17 - Car Park Session of Minor Consequenses

2012-01-18T12:01:00.002Z

I have to be honest here. Last night I probably could have done without going for a skate. The cracks are starting to appear in my physical condition. The weekend took it's toll on my back and my ankle to the point where having a rest probably would have been a better idea than going for a Car Park Session in Kingston.

Considering I'm talking about Day 17 is, I suppose, about time for these kind of issues to raise their heads. You forget how many knocks and tweaks you get throughout the year but you always get at least a couple of days to let them fade a bit before your next skate, not when you've committed to Skating Every Day in January you don't.

I had this fact thrown in my face twice last night. When I got to the car park last night around 10pm Marcus (Adams), Dougie (Parmiter) and Jack (Maddison -his blog) were already there, at the end of a day skating and filming. Marcus had dislocated his shoulder a couple of weeks ago and is not really back skating yet and when he said that he might not make Bay-station-66 the next day because he 's not quite fixed, I was kind of jealous. Of the break, not the dislocated shoulder you understand.

In a classic bit of showboating Dave took this to nose-wheelie out.

Dave arrived and pretty soon after Jack, Marcus and Dougie had to leave so we started our two man car park training session. David was getting his kick-flips and tail-slides back while I was just rolling around with a few slappies and nose slides, a manual here and there when I decided I'd have a go a a few feeble grinds on the waxed curb. First one was encouraging but I didn't put enough weight on the back truck to make it out clean. The second go just stuck and as I stepped off, my board had turned away the curb under my back foot and hey-presto... ANKLE-ROLL!!

...go together like a horse and carriage.

Now I have a long history with this injury. The first ten seconds are always the same: fucking painful. You can only start to assess how bad it is by how quickly the pain starts to dissipate. Thankfully this one was more of a tweak than anything serious. But it did kind of kill the session for me, but, it also forced me into concentrating on trying to finally get nose wheelies dialed. Note the word "trying" in that last sentence.

I write this with a packet of Nurofen next to my keyboard ready to be devoured, I'm planning a lunch-time stretching session and my green tea intake is off the charts in an attempt to get those nasty toxins out of all my ligaments and muscles. Will any of this help? God knows. I'll just have to get to the park tonight and see how it goes.

Day 17 was, technically, a success. I'm still in the game. 17 days straight, no failures. I know that Dave enjoyed thee session so there's another positive... I'm getting good at this.

Day 18 is a return to Platystation/Bay66 so there will be plenty of opportunity to cruise if I need to or go big if I feel like it. I did kind of promise myself I'd spend a bit more time on the Midi this week: we'll see how that works out. If your in the area and in the mood, get down there from 7.00pm.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 16 - Meanwhile Gardens Hump Day

2012-01-16T21:12:00.001Z

First off, let's clear-up any misunderstandings about the title of this post. The S.E.D.J. bit is obviously Skate Every Day in January, Day 16- again obvious, Meanwhile Garden - Meanwhile I/Meanwhile Bowls and "Hump Day" - The middle of a work week (Wednesday); used in the context of climbing a proverbial hill to get through a tough week. - But I have of course appropriated it to mean the day slap bang in the middle of this 31 day long mission. That's right I'm now over half way through S.E.D.J., it's all downhill from here.

After the weekend's two sessions I'd woken-up feeling a little battered and in the mood for a nice relaxing skate. Thankfully the British weather was on my side. Despite having to ride to work in -1˚C on a motorbike that was so cold the foam in the seat had frozen solid, by lunchtime the skies were still perfectly clear and blue and the sun was out. For a lunch-time skate in the middle of January I was skating bone-dry Meanwhile Bowls in just T-shirt. It would seem some-one up there like me.

Bathed in Winter Sun!

When I arrived at the bowls there two other guys skating there who I got chatting with, mainly about the state of the park, cracks, uneven slabs of transition, that kind of thing. One of the guys, called Tom, works down in Ladbrook Grove so he can cycle up to the bowls in about 5 minutes. Imagine having a spot 5 minutes away from work, especially one as fun as Meanwhile, both of them. So I'm going to have to get a bit mathematical about this and figure out which spot is actually the closest and quickest for me to get to, right now of the top of my head I think it might be Meanwhile II/Royal Oak, mainly due to fast roads. What I really need is a secret spot that's somewhere within 2 miles of Soho or for the Supreme store to install a min-bowl downstairs... that would be alright, I could walk there.

T-shirt weather at Meanwhile, in January.

Until either of those options become available I'll just have to keep doing what I'm doing and riding for half an hour minimum to get a half hour skate, maximum. Hey, I'm fully aware that it could be worse, the fact is I got Day 16 sorted on my lunch-break, in the sunshine, at a quality park with sound people. Today was a good day.

Day 17 is another Car Park training session, in Kingston from 10.00pm. Depending on how my ankle feels this may be a nose-wheelie only session. If your about, give me a shout.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 15 - XC Park Hemel.

2012-01-16T00:24:00.001Z

I've been meaning to get to this place for a while now. And so it would seem have a few other people. Johners, Martin and I set of in the car at around 9am and were at the park bang on 10 for the start of the 10.00-1.00pm session. Justin was meeting us there a s he only live around the corner... lucky fucker.

We were were there for one reason. The Pool. And we were not disappointed. The transitions are authentic without being completely unskatable, the surface is perfect and it's skateboards only, how sweet is that?

Not long after we'd started skating Matt and Reuben turned up and all of a sudden it was a bit of a Stockwell re-union as well as being a mini TVI reunion for Me, Justin and Martin. Skating a pool like this with people you've known and skated with for years was a bit special. We only had to share the pool with two other guys and a couple of little rippers who must have only been 8.

The best thing about this pool is that it's not too easy to skate. You still have to think about what your doing, maybe because we don't get to skate proper pools too often, and partly because it's got the ability to throw you off and give you a nasty surprise. The last time I skated the pool at Saffron I was tipped off the front when I thought everything was fine, got thrown into the opposite wall and got a broken wrist for my trouble, so I was determined not to get carried away to quickly this time.

Reuben didn't seem to have any such reservations. He was like a kid in a sweet shop, he didn't stop grinning the entire time and decided that smiths in the deep end were the way forward. Apparently that's the only front-side grind he does, not a bad problem to have.

It will come as no surprise to you that the 3 hours of that session were 3 of the fastest hours I've ever experienced, but I was fine with it as my body was starting to send me a few messages via the universal language of pain signals. Because of how fast the time flew I didn't put a huge amount of effort into shooting photos but did remember to fire off a few before we got kicked out.

Day 15 was awesome. It's that simple. All the key ingredients for a great skate. Thanks to everyone for coming along, I am aware the pool probably had more to do with it but, it was amazing skating that place with good mates.

Tomorrow is Day 16, the halfway point in this 31 day skate adventure. I need to mark it by going to another of my favorite spots, Meanwhile Gardens. I'm going to aim to get there for 1.15pm, so if you want to come and help me make it over the half way mark, I'll see you there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 14 - Tolworth Return - The Local Gem.

2012-01-15T01:17:00.001Z

After the fun we had at Tolworth last Saturday it was obvious where I was going to skate today. The fact that Johners and Sam had never been to the bowl meant it was a done deal. Having this place as one of my local skates is amazing. The fact that it's never really that busy, and even when it is the kids are all well behaved, means that you can skate it with impunity, the drain actually works meaning there are never any puddles, oh...and it's got pool coping.

Adam had already ridden his tank of a mountain bike from Clapham to mine, about 10 miles, but was keen to see the bowl. We picked Sam up on the way and arrived to a park with about seven or eight little scoot-kids and four or so BMXicans but we still got in all the skating we wanted, result. I even managed to talk Johners into skating the mini-full-pipe next to the park.

The rest of the time was spent having fun skating the capsule section and getting as many grinds on the pool coping as we could, there are few better feelings. Once we'd run out of time I wanted to know what Adam made of the bowl... it was obvious from watching him skate it, he is now a fan.

That was Day 14 being chalked up as another success. A great spot with minimal travel and amazing weather. Thanks to Adam "Johnners" Johns and Sam for coming along.

Tomorrow is an early start for S.E.D.J. Day 15. This time it's XC Park at Hemel to complete the double-header weekend of pool coping. We're going to the 10am to 1pm so I'd better get to bed.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 13 - Clapham Common and The Jaws of Defeat.

2012-01-13T21:48:00.000Z

I knew it. I deliberately didn't mention anything about today's date in any of the emails or yesterday's post. Did it do any good in avoiding the curse of Friday the 13th? Did it Fuck!!

Martyn had cycled from Burmondsey to come and skate this brand new park, so new the fucking thing isn't even finished,and was just as pissed off as I was when we were met by contractors still working on the park and refusing us entry to skate.

The as yet unfinished Clapham Common Skatepark.

It had to happen at some point and I think 12 days straight without any real hiccups is good going. Thank Christ there was another option open to us. I was all set to go a bit fiery-headed about the whole situation but Martyn kindly reminded me that the paddling pool used to be the only spot in this area. So a two minute walk over the common and we had waxed painted curbs and a tiny little D.I.Y. quarter to mess about on. The clock was ticking.

A bit of minimalist D.I.Y.

The concrete that had been thrown up against the surrounding wall was barely skateable but I gave it a go anyway. Mostly it was a curb session in amazing almost spring-like conditions. A good covering of leaf litter and tiny twigs made for plenty of wheel-jams which started to get almost comical after a while, always coming just half a second before you are about to pop up onto the curb.

Martyn styles out a 50-50 at the paddling pool.

Both Martyn and i kept positive, dug deep for bit of the old Dunkirk spirit and managed to snatch victory from the Jaws of and unfinished concrete skatepark. The word from the guys working there is that it opens this weekend, so maybe one day next week I'll actually make it happen. For Day 13 it's still ticked, just not in the way I'd planned. Huge thanks to Martyn for making a big effort to come and skate today.

Tomorrow is Day 14 and a return visit to Tollworth. If you believe what people say there should be a few of us here tomorrow, from 12.00 for bout an hour and half. If you're in the area get down there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 12 - Stockwell Lunch-Break Smash'n'Grab

2012-01-12T23:06:00.002Z

I can feel it coming. Impending doom, or at least doom laden skies... of course when I say doom I mean rain.

The first couple of days of this Skate Every Day in January were characterized by rain and puddles but since then, and boy does that seem a long time ago, we've had unseasonably dry weather. Being British I know instinctively that this can't last but just for today I got away with it again.

God knows how many hours of my life I have spent at Stockwell over the years. When I used to live about 200 yards away I was living the dream and nipping over to the park to skate for an hour was all too easy. Now that I live a good 10 mile cycle ride away skating for less than three just doesn't make sense so today has to go down as my shortest ever skate at Stockwell... half an hour precisely.

Even for such a flying visit I was lucky enough to find three Stockwell stalwarts. James, Adrian and Jack were all there to guarantee I didn't skate alone. I'm pretty sure James was unaware of S.E.D.J. but hey, I'm not proud.

James was on great form, flying around the park like a man posessed. Adrian is back on his board after a 6 month lay-off, I didn't get chance to ask him what's new with his Done Video project, hopefully I'll see him to ask before another six months is up.

Jack was sporting his new knee brace. Not only does it make him look like some sort of robo-law-enforcement-android agent but apparently he's not quite adjusted to the extra width that the brace gives his leg and has been injuring people who come within striking distance, as well as destroying furniture and door frames wherever he goes. He made me feel a lot better about my ever present ankle brace.

Before I knew it my time was up and I had to drag myself away. It's this bit that's going to push me to the edge you know. Leaving these guys to enjoy the rest of the afternoon at my favorite skatepark is an unholy curse: and all the worse for being self inflicted... Aaah God what have I done!?!

I'm sure I'll get over it. So that was Day 12. Half an hour at a world class skatepark with three mates. Nice.

And now for Day 13, another South London lunch-time mission, Clapham Common. This is an all new park that I have yet to skate, so should be interesting with only half an hour to sample it's delights. If your about, I'll be there from 1.15.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 11 - More Playstation Fun Times

2012-01-12T11:02:00.003Z

Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a cycling fanatic too. Last night I was talking to Jotham about some of his physical repercussions from Sunday's skate, and it got me thinking.

In cycling the ultimate endurance races are the Grand Tours, the biggest and longest of which is the three week long Tour de France, which this year will cover 2,161 miles. In the world of professional cycle racing they say that your legs and general physicality change once you've completed your first tour de France. It's like you can't train for it, you just have to do it and having done it once your body will kind of know what to expect and will be somehow battle hardened from having done it once before.

Could this S.E.D.J. thing be my Tour de France. Now I'm not doing the skateboarding equivalent of cycling 130 miles a day, but I'm doing over four weeks and those guys get two days off. What I was thinking about was how skating Every Day In January is going to have an effect on my body, my fitness and leave me changed at the end off it. Going on a trip and skating every day in a week will hopefully seem like a walk in the park.

Or will I be so wrecked that I can't skate in February? I think I prefer the version where I'm this new kind of battle hardened skateboarder who now has the ability to take on anything. Unfortunately the way things are going there's a danger that my skating on the 31st could resemble an avant garde modern dance performance based on the last days if the Siege of Leningrad.

Day 11 was as you probably know a London Winter staple, the Wednesday Night session at Playstation/Bay66. When I first started going to these the sessions I would mainly be concentrated on the Midi and the Vert. I'd be padded up and helmeted for at least half the session trying to learn airs on the vert, or trying to get involved with the sessions that used to be going off on the Midi.

Kev and Alan ready for battle.

Ivan and Johners refusing to be photographed.

Kev Firth, Matt, Jim, Alan, Neal K and Jotham were all also in attendance with most of them getting involved with the mini-ramp session and having a proper laugh for the whole time. So that was Day 11, one of the most fun sessions so far, even though my legs were starting to show a little fatigue.

This is actually Ivan bashing his nose on thee way back down.

Kev Smithing.

Johners still being camera shy.

Ivan turning up the heat.

I knew I should have worn my white Tee.

A photo of Kev having just let go of a melon. #instamaticskatephotography

Ha! Got him.

Day 12 is a lunch-time session at Stockwell from 1:15pm. Same as usual, if you feel like a half hour skate at lunch, come down to the beach.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 10 - Car Park Tarining, Again.

2012-01-11T11:42:00.001Z

This skate represented, as near as damn it, one third of Skate Every Day in January completed. The thought of how knackered my legs feel now and then do it all over again, twice, does not fill me with joy. I really need to figure out a way to get some life back in them.

It always feel worse at the start of this kind of Flat-ground/Street-skating/curb sessions, mainly because it takes me a while to warm up. Sunday was the first time I've ever consciously "Warmed Up" before a skate, but I'm converted now. Getting my tired legs back into ollie mode takes a good 10 minutes.

Tonight I was skating with Sam and Dave, this was the second time for both of these two to lend their support to S.E.D.J. and thanks go to both of them for coming out to skate a car park in Kingston at 10:00pm on a Tuesday night.

I really enjoyed skating with these two, having a curb session and watching Dave get his nose wheelies back over the manny pad and all three of us sampling the simple pleasure that is grinding a curb, whether it's a frontside slappy, and 50-50 or a 5-0 they all sound and feel so good in the enclosed space of a car park.

So not a ground breaking skate for Day 10, not even a particularly hi-octaine skate either but a good hour and half of getting back to the roots of skateboarding, oh and even re-learning to no-comply.

Day 11 is a Wednesday Night Special at Playstation/Bay66 with a very quick stop-off at Meanwhile II on the way up there. I'm hoping the post Christmas lull will be over and a few more faces put in an appearance for the session. If you feel like a mini-ramp snake session with Me and Johners, you know where to be.

[LIALC]

Video Evidence of The S.E.D.J. Day 8.

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000Z

Adam "Johners" Johns has just posted a video of some of the Day's skating from Sunday. As with my post, Jamie "Harry" Harrison is all over the edit, he was on fire that day, and I know that he was paying the physical price for it yesterday.

One to watch out for is Johners very own ollie into the banked wall from the boat-bench, Alex was on filmer duty at that point.

So now enjoy the experimental film making stylings of Johners and co.

S.E.D.J. Day 9 - West London Modern Classic

2012-01-09T23:19:00.002Z

I have an admission to make, today was the first day of this Skate Every Day in January that I thought maybe it might be nice not to skate today. I can qualify that. I was back to work today so I had to timetable this skate around work and try to squeeze it into one hour. That's travel time there, park bike, skate, get back on bike, travel back to work all in an hour.

Having been out skating yesterday for 6 hours finished off with a 14 mile ride home, my legs were definitely telling me to give myself a day off, we're only talking about day 9 here, not even a third of the way into S.E.D.J.

So with giving up not really being an option I was getting ready to plan my exit from the office when I get a mail from my mate Phil asking when I'm planning on getting there so he could meet me.

Prockie.

This news was music to my ears. The reason being that this is the only skate spot I've been mugged at. It was actually me and my mate Howie. It was years ago on a week day and Howie was taking photos of me skating the old wooden quarter/bank set-up that used to be here.

Well, it's a flat bank yeah?

Next thing we know there are to lads with kitchen knives suggesting that it might be beneficial to our health if Howie gave the guy waving the knife at him his camera and my guy wanted Howie's camera bag, that I had.

Another shit photo of the park. Can you tell I was in a rush?

The upshot being that not long after Howie and I are sitting on the tube on our way home, without camera or bag, and were going over what just happened, we notice that Howie had a couple of slashes in his sweatshirt and a cut about an inch long in the peak of his baseball cap. It was at that point we both realized we'd made the right decision not to put up any more of a fight than we did. To this day I still feel guilty for letting that fucker get Howie's bag.

What exactly did I think this shot was going to offer the reader?

For a few years after I gave Meanwhile II (to give it it's proper name) a wide birth, and if I did go I'd go when a bit of a crew was going down. Of course these days this whole area feels far less edgy but that old incident still popped into my head a couple of times since last night, when I decided it would be today's skate.

You have no idea how offensive this photo smells.

One thing from back in the old days that hasn't changed is the smell. The smell of Death! This park has always attracted street-pissers who manage to produce some of the worst smelling puddles in the developed world. Seriously, I'm not overstating the case here, the Smell Of Death comps that kept this place going for years were named after that aroma. I'd assumed it had gone, I was wrong.

I think I took this one accidentally while putting my jacket on.

Getting to see skate friends that I've not seen for ages is an amazing side effect of S.ED.J. Getting a half hour skate with Phil was brilliant. The fact that I skated like a one-legged scare-crow with inner ear problems is beside the point. I still had fun skating with a mate.

Now I have Day 10 to look forward too, and I am: looking forward to it I mean. Tomorrow is another Car Park Training session in Kingston. I'm going to be there from 10 pm, maybe a little earlier, so if you want to session front-side slappies with me you know what to do.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 8 - Out and About in Old London Town.

2012-01-08T23:58:00.001Z

It would seem that the cracks are starting to appear. Organisational and physical. Something on the right hand side of my abdomen decided to go "Twang" while trying to skate a boulder at Tolworth. It wasn't until Jotham, Johners and Jamie got to the warm up spot that I realised it still hurt like hell. Anyone know any good stomach stretches?

After the warm-up spot we crossed the road to the temporary driveway spot that is getting skated while it lasts. It's a weird little spot, not really steep enough, the run-ups a bit crappy and a nasty lip at the bottom that all add up to make it a bit more of a challenge and actually really fun.

Jamie, straight ollie over a FULL SIZE cone (Honest).

My disastrously timed shot of Jamie getting the spot's first wall-ride.

Alex and French arrived before we set off for the next spot over on the south side of the river near the Fire Brigade headquarters. The banks there are covered in a kind of pebble-dash that serves 2 purposes; to destroy the nose of your board and to shred your hands if you make the mistake of using them to steady yourself.

French.

Johners

...and from the rear

We bumped into Fos, Rogie and Questions, who were doing a bit of filming at the spot, which was handy, because it meant that Fos managed to be filming when Jamie zoomed his board over the wall into the slip-way on the other side. A packet of baby wipes later and Jamie had the board rideable again - he's never one to give up our Jamie.

Jamie's board went for a beauty treatment at the next spot.

Questions was on hand to mount the rescue operation.

Fos documenting with full death leans.

I proceeded to completely fuck the nose of my board thanks to the bank's surface, Johners and Alex sessionned the boat shaped benches with Jamie and Rogie until it was time to move on again.

Johners ollied into the rough-as-fuck bank.

off to the next spot.

The final spot of the day was a beauty. Another bank/wall-ride spot. This one had railings to save Jamie from a more permanent board disappearance. We all skated the corner section, I ended up on the floor more than a couple of times, great fun though.

Another shot of Jamie.. this time front-side wall-ride round the corner.

Jamie was going to a front-side grind but was getting tipped off as soon as he made contact so he had to make do with a nice carve front-side wall ride instead. Next time it just needs a bit more wax and he'll have it. I can't wait to go back to this spot.

Day 8 was another success on the skateboarding front. Three good spots, a really good gang out skating and a lucky encounter with Rogie, Questions and Fos, the weather was on our side too, until I set off to ride home, of course.

Tomorrow it's Day 9 and a lunch-time skate at Royal Oak. I'll be getting there for 1:15pm, if anyone is in the mood, let me know.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 7 - Tolworth Bowl Sunshine Session

2012-01-07T22:24:00.000Z

The world is turning upside down, it's official. How can I be so sure? Here's how... when my neighbour, David, and I arrived at the Tolworth bowl we were less than pleased to find the place being used by four little kids on micro-scoots. Nice enough kids if you overlook the diabolical choice of past-time, so obviously I started winding them up about needing to graduate to skateboards and here's what they said back:

"If any any of our mates saw us riding a skateboard they'd never stop taking the piss"... WHAT!! No kid, you've got that the wrong way round! This kid was implying that there was more street cred in riding a bloody micro-scoot-thing.. like I said... upside-down.

Bowlworth!

By the time I'd picked myself off the floor and pulled myself together after hearing such madness David had already started to get acquainted with the bowl. Next thing you know Jeremy arrived and all of a sudden you've got enough of us there skating that the kids and their contraptions disappear, leaving us with an empty bowl for an hour or so.

Jeremy with a Rock'n'Roll in the capsule.

David has always been more of a street skater so toward the end of the session our attention turned to the block that's tucked away by the path into the park, I've always thought that was a nice touch. I opted for camera duty rather than getting all tech on the ledge.

One of David's solid nose slides.

This wasn't the longest session but definitely a fun one. I've always liked Tolworth - it's close to home, it's normally quiet and it's got pool coping. I was lucky again to have two friends to skate with and weather that was more like April than January. Not a bad way to round off week 1 of Skate Every Day in January.

Jeremy going up and over to 50-50.

Tomorrow is Day 8, the first day of the second week of S.E.D.J. and this time it's street spots. The plan is to meet at 11 am on Westminster bridge with board and bicycle and start seeking out all those spots we should be skating in this amazing city. If you fancy it, you know where we'll be.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 6 - Victoria Park Smash'n'Grab Session.

2012-01-06T23:21:00.000Z

Things don't always go plan. today was no exception. I was due to meet up with Kev at Victoria Park to skate that beast of a bowl that's arrived there in the last year. Only problem was that Kev got caught up in a house-key and flat-mate debacle which meant he couldn't leave for the park until his flat-mate got home. Kev truly is a stand-up guy? I've had a few flat-mates in my time who would have made me wait until they got back from skating.

It turns out that Kev got to the park just after my half our skate had to come to an end. Luckily Jeremy had come over to have a roll too. Seeing as he's the guy that designed the place it was fitting that I had my first skate there with him.

Another bit of luck was having a bit of a skate with Horsey and Rob Smith who had also come down to skate the park for the first time with a car full of Death boys to hook up with Kev. The worst part of today was dragging myself away from there knowing that those guys were just warming up for a friday afternoon session in perfect winter sun.

It took me nearly half an hour to get there and only a little less to get back to work, so I doubt this place is going to work for these Lunch-time skates, more traveling than skating. But wow, I'm really into that bowl, for some reason that cradle just makes me want to go upside-down. Next time... next time.

Day Six is all about keeping it local, Tolworth Bowl at mid-day for an hour or so's relaxed concrete therapy. As usual it would be great to see some faces, so far I've been blessed with good company. Thanks go to Jeremy for making the trip today and to Kev too, sorry I couldn't hang on mate.

Have a great weekend and maaybe see you out there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 5 - White Grounds - The Forgotten Park

2012-01-06T00:39:00.002Z

Admittedly by that I mean that I'd forgotten it was still there. Mainly due to the fact that every time I've been there it's been locked up, forcing us to climb over the fence. Of course there are advantages to that, you get the place to yourself.

Today I was accompanied by Martyn Thomas who took time out out from running his business to come and have a half hour skate with a deluded mate. After scaling the fence it was soon apparent that we'd made a classic mistake and arrived without any clean-up equipment, and to be honest we wouldn't have needed much, just something to clean up the puddles at the bottom of most of the banks.

We both tried riding just riding through them but the concrete is here is nice ans smooth and so deadly when wet. That left us with the option of skating around the water, we didn't really have time to waste on mopping up anyway.

I'd ridden over from Soho on the motorbike in about 15 minutes and needed to get back roughly on the hour so it was half an our of skating what we could. For the first Smash'n'Grab session of Skate Every Day in January (S.E.D.J.) I was happy. I had a good friend to skate with and I figured out a few things that will get me out of the office and back a bit more smoothly next time.

Another bonus was rediscovering the White Grounds, next time I'll just throw a copy of the metro in my bag and we'll be rocking. It's actually a great littel park with quirky lines and some properly challenging bits. Who knows, maybe this one will last beyond S.E.D.J., I hope so. Thanks to Martyn for suggesting the park and heading out to skate too.

Tomorrow is another Smash'n'Grab, this time it's Victoria Park to hook up with Kev McKeon and any of you lot who fancy heading down for a skate at about 1.15PM? Com on, have a lunch-time skate, it's great for your digestion.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 4 - Playbox-Baystation66 - Old Faithful

2012-01-05T00:37:00.001Z

Can someone please explain what the hell I was thinking when I decided to cycle to work today? I can still hear that bloody wind out there. To be honest the ride to work wasn't so bad. The ride from the office to Playstation/Xbox/Bay66 was as bad as it gets. I was completely soaked by the time I arrived. My shoes were the worst, you know when you can actually judge the water level inside with your toes, no?, just me then.

The ride home was even worse. 10 wet miles into a bloody headwind after a bit of a battering at the hands of the new slidy version of the mini and a "no-pads" mini-session on the vert, was not what I needed.

What I had been in need of was people to skate with. And wouldn't you know it the Stockwell contingent of Matt Gold, Jim Thompson and Dave Reading turned up. Love it. As did Marcus and Kev McKeon, but he was working in his shop which is in the skatepark so basically he took a tea break to come and skate with us. I still appreciate it.

Most of the night was spent skating the mini which is always fun, unfortunately tonight the ramp's surface was so slidy it taking people out left, right and centre, with no warning what so ever. People were sliding out of stuff so much that new tricks were get done completely by accident. I blame the bladers and their wax covered wheels.

Mat and Jim, Jim had the essentials covered then.

After a while everyone got acclimatised and we ended up having a good session with a few more of the Kingston crew, Jeremy Jones and a lad who's name I always forget (sorry dude), total rippers!

My thing tonight was just to skate everything on offer so it was a case of mini for a bit, a few runs on the vert, off to the midi-ramp, cruise round the street course and repeat.

All in all it was a good night. I didn't go to the pub afterward as I wanted to get home a get warm again, so there was no point in being on the bicycle anyway... you live and learn.

Dave giving it a bit of the old 5-O.

Jim with some text-book front rocking.

Matt busting out the one footed ollie.

Marcus was riding his new DEATH wood.

That he'd bought from this bloke at Stand-Up Skateshop.

For Day 5 tomorrow it's a lunch-time quicky at White Grounds SE1 from about 1.15PM for about half an hour. I haven't been there in a long time and almost forgot it existed to be honest. I'm also back on the motorbike tomorrow.

Thanks to the lads for their support tonight. Who can tell who I'll be skating with tomorrow?

See you out there.

[LIALC]