Back on Board!

Over the past two weeks i spent all of my time in oxford with my cousin Michael and all his friends. Those two weeks gave my ankle time to heal because i wasn't skating.....i was living the student life , drinking etc. My diet consisted of canned soup and pizza for a good week and the partying started to take its toll on my well being so i had to get out of there fast. Even though Oxford was a shit load of fun...you have to be careful cause once you get a taste you never want to leave.I found myself back at Jays place. In great need of healthy food, sleep and a good skate. We met up with the Morgan brothers and Niel to go skate the Arsenal stadium manny pads which was great fun. There was sun and good vibes all aroundHippie jump
Been skating stockweel quite a bit again and managed to get a wallride to back 50/smith .
Me trying to get used to rolling my own ciggarrettes.
Im back on the board and ready to catch up on a lot of skating i havnt done so new posts will start coming more often again.

VIBES

I went to Oxford last weekend to visit my cousin Michael who is studying there. When you think of Oxford you think of old buildings over flowing with intlectuals and class. Think of that with the addition of trans parties, booze and party animals ....you get a place that is so ridden with fun it is almost unimaginable.

Been staying with Niel Hughes the last coulpe of days. I really like the way his place works. One living area for everone and your own room. This way you get to meet and make friends with everyone staying in the same building as you. Everone is cool with everyone and it gives the place a really nice vibe.

Its the 18th of March and im slowly losing my mind here. My ankles are still swolen so i cant skate....so lately ive been finding myself doing absolutely nothing. The one thing that is shining a light on the whole situation is Barcelona. I have booked my ticket today and will be there on the 13th of April. Warmer weather and possibly better ankles. I see good good things in the near future.

Crusifix Lane

One part of my body i never hurt while skating is my ankle but for some reason London has put a voodoo curse on them. I rolled my ankle really badly at the stockwell park so im not gonna be skating for a week or two.The next day we went to a new public park that was built in Brixton. I sat around feeling sorry for myself while everyone else skated around . We then discovered the fact that the park was dedicated to the Sharpville massacre in Sewoto. Very wierd being in the middle of Brixton.

That night we went to a local pub in Brixton to have a few pints. A local befriended us and kept us entrtained the whole night. Nick the Suit he called himself, i told him to audition for the next Guy Richie film coming out cause he could had been the next Brick Top. Nick the Suit Quote:"Do ya wanna ere an old english proverb","Load it, Cock it........and blow her fucking head off!" We all moved on to Niels place which turned out to be an all nighter. Except for Steph who made the mistake of drinking a 9% man sized beer.

The next day the Morgan brothers and i missioned to the London Bridge ledges which is an amazing spot. Full of Marble ledges. Its the spot where Nick Jensen does the line with the nollie cab from the bench over the metal box in fully flared. Once again i just sat down and smoked cigarettes waiting for a miracle to happen to my ankle.

On the way back there was a tunnel/street named "Crucifix Lane" with a tree at the end of it full of some Prayer flags done by some Harikrishners or something. And on the opposite side of the road from the tree was a mangled car from the night before and an old woman rolling past in pink spandex and huge roller skates. My eyes started to roll back and blood started....kidding.Just a really crazy sight.

This Time Tomorrow

I met up with Jay on thursday afternoon to make our way to a skate film premiere that night. After a few pints we managed to get our way to the theatre which was in the china town area of London. The film is titled "This Time Tomorrow" and if you get the chance you should buy it. The film is full of banging parts and interesting skating. Steph Morgan has an amazing part in the film and so did all the other skaters which opened my eyes a little on the level of skating in London and other parts of the world. After the premiere we were set loose in town trying to find the next pub to terrorise. Jay Besaans, Niel Hughes and Andy Morgan

The next day Jay and i headed off to the stockwell skatepark to feed our need for skating after watching "This Time Tomorrow" the night before. The park is full of tight tranny and flowing lines which can keep you ampt for hours and hours. Heres a few photos Jay took for me at the park. The skate park. Back Tail.

Nose Blunt

Boneless Front hurricane to fakie

The next day was Jays 30th so the rest of the night was spent on drinking games,drinks and wine and beer and drinks.

Im 15 I Promise!!

Went to the building where the Queens band stays and practice for the royal family. They must had been on their break or something because i could here a cover of "God Sent Death" by "Slayer" blaring out the hundred year old windows using a trumpet, french horn and a clarinet. I threw them a few coins over the fence and moved on.

Later on i met Jay at the Stockwell skatepark . Such a good skatepark!!! Lots of Tranny and hips to play around on but half an hour into our session it started to piss down which broke jay enough to make him go home for the rest of the day. Didnt get any photos but im going back again tomorrow so expect some cool shit. I left Stockwell with a local named Melvin and we caught a bus to South Bank where we were safe from the rain.

Got a front crook on the up ledge(photo taken by Melvin) and then managed to snap my board doing a hard flip on flat(my hardflips are cursed in london). I dragged my feet back to Waterloo Station and caught the next train back home. While i have been here i've cheated the system by buying childrens day travel cards which only cost 2 pounds. Already feeling down about my board i get asked for my ticket on the train and then tried quite hard to convince the woman that i was 15 years old. Kicked off the train and with no more pounds on me i decide to just take my chances and hop onto the next one with the same ticket. Victory was mine and i walked the whole way back home with a smile on my face.
Wet Shoes and Written off board.......yaaaay

Drinking in public

Went skating on Wednsday with jay and old gateway locals David ratcliff and his brother. Went to South Bank first but people were complaining that it was too cold by the river so we moved on to a small park underneath a bridge in some dodgy part of town. I managed to tweek my ankle doing a hard flip on flat and bruised all my toes jumping down the South Bank stairs so my first day skating in London was amazing.

My Thursday consisted of Beer and whiskey with Jay when we decided to bar hop his side of town and hang out with a friend named Hayden. I had to talk Jay out of joining a dance circle at one of the pubs even though he would had torn it apart with his new age moves.

We woke up hung over on Friday and left to meet up with the Morgan brothers, Niel Hughes and other London locals. The best part about London is saluting a policeman with a man sized can in your hand and he will wave straight back. You walk into a little quick shop and there will be a fridge full of beer taunting you to take it outside. Theres beer everywhere and anywhere and it brings tears to my eyes. After grabbing one of these take away beauties we went to go skate a brick bank that went on for ever.

Beer eyed Back Lip slide

Trying to figure out how to put footage on my blog but in the mean time....heres Niel

Morning Coffee with my afternoon stroll

I woke up at 12 pm today to a sunny day. It looks like morning for most of the day when its sunny here so i was a bit disorientated. I got warm and headed to the train station to make my way to Waterloo. Checked out south bank which made me feel shit because i didnt have my skateboard with me. Meeting up with the all famous Jay Besaans there tomorrow for a skate and a pint. One thing i learnt about London today is that theres tourists fucking everywhere and they will take a photo of anything and everything. Toilets, dead pigeons and hippies blowing bubbles were amongst their favourites.

The rest of my time was spent listening to Tom Waits exploring the streets of London. Gave 20p to a wheel chair ridden homeless man and had an interesting conversation with a woman that needed a lighter.

Her: Do you have light. Me: yes Her: Where you from then? Me: South Africa

Her: Oh ok....Is it poor in South Africa. Me: What? Her: Is it poor in South Africa....POOR.

I cant wait to see what my next intelectually stimulating conversation will be about. Maybe it'll be about the loin cloths we wear in summer or the monkey powered steam boats we drive around in on sundays.......whatever, heres a photo of South Bank

Tell Jack The Ripper Theres A New Sherrif In Town!

It was monday afternoon when i was set loose in O.R Tambo airport with nothing but my bags, my passports and my camera. Im franticly trying to get to gate A5 which at the time seemed impossible to find . My flights boarding, my breath stinks of Hansa draught and cigarettes, i start sweating as the reality of being in Europe for a year sinks in and im feeling sorry for the poor innocent passenger that has to sit next to this horrible sight. Im walking down the narrow isle of the 747 and i can only hope im left with a decent human being for the next 10 hours. I find that im right across the isle from an 80 year old woman who tried to force feed me all her extra aeroplane desert any chance she could , "you look like a nice young Lad that likes his sugar", she repeats as i get closer and closer to becoming diabetic and dying on the way to London. I grab my new Nick Cave novel and dive into a deep blackhole of literate ecstacy as my brain gets filled with profanities and death. The air hostess takes a gander at my book as shes pouring my coffee and she gets hit in the frontal lobe with , "she could continue to walk away and the day would roll on in all its dismal eventuality or she could turn around and her sweet, young life would open up like, um , a vagina or something.", i dont think i got any coffee for the rest of the flight. Only dirty looks and pudding from my old lady friend.I take out my video camera to document the vegitable lasagne they placed in front of me which resembled an old flat piece of human flesh carefully placed on top of mushed up soft plastic. Another air hostess(man this time...i think?) rushed over and told me to put my camera away "or you can get into big trouble". He death stares me as i quietly eat my human plastic . The ten hours are soon over and i walk out of the airport at 6.30 am into a dark, rainy, cold beautiful day in London and im soon greeted by Ricardo who will be hosting me for the first week of my trip. The Adventure has just begun and even though it sounds like a shaky start i loved every minute of it. Thanks again to Pat and Morck at DC for having faith in horor...

More updates will follow shortly if im still alive.