The diary of an idiot.

[Rio Ohki]

Wasn't at tunnel no, got rather tired, think the sun was kicking in by then and had a good long sleep.

[Wee Dave]

After reading this it is making me want to blade again.

Might try dig out the old in-lines and join you, they are a bit tattered though so a new pair may be in order.

[Rio Ohki]

Scott Learns to Skateboard: Day 2 (08/05.08)

Essential items bought for Day 2:

Suntan lotion (Boots Soltan for Kids/Ginger people, factor 50)
2 T-Shirts from Primark, and a pair of sunglasses.
A Hat from H&M

The aforementioned hat is not being removed at any point until the sunburn on my head subsides and turns back to it's usual pallid state. This is the curse of the ginger, and as such my neck, and forehead are red as a post-box, as opposed to saying 'Pillar-box Red'(Tm), which, as I have learned with the aid of Altnation's number one Postie, KatinaKooker, has actually been trademarked by Royal Mail.

It's also the curse of the sunburned ginger that you will, if brave enough to venture outside, run into everybody (almost) that you know, and as such, I enjoyed the company of Pete(KatinaKooker), Laura (Fallen-Nemisis), Wee Dave (Wee Dave), Tom (Stem), Rachael (BunnyLingus), Christine (Who works with Laura), Mike (From the band), Rob (who also works with Laura), Eleanor (Ex) and Suzi (Who thought the forum was somewhere in Lenzie).

After buying said items, and loosening the trucks on my board a little more, I headed to the Park in Kelvingrove about 1pm in order to see if I could remember what I had learned the previous day.

To my utter delight, I have managed to improve ever so slightly. Whilst carving the bowl, So far I can now get around a good bit further before falling off in a tornado of limbs and obscenities, occasionally manage a kickturn (to kickturn is to lift the front of your board up, balance on your back wheels, and turn the board left or right, as far as you so wish) whilst on a slope of bowl, and also just about fly out and over the edge of said bowl. At the moment, it involves coming over the edge, panicking, standing on the edge and catching my board, however, this is a vast improvement on climbing out on hand and foot.

This of course, is nothing compared to Pete, who can pull off a flip (of the front or back variety, I forget) upon leaving the bowl, despite a hangover.

The other thing to make me smile that day was the fact that my enthusiasm has not, as of yet, waned in favour of sitting in my pants and watching films or playing online bingo. My board (and bank balance) have learned to live in fear of my awful attention span, but as of yet, the lure of the skate park is winning. It was also very nice to see some of the same faces from Day one skating, even the children who outclass me in every way.

I may have also pulled off my first semblance of a 'trick' outside Stavka (who do a damn fine chicken/Bacon/Cheese/Nom Burger. This 'Trick' involves four critical steps.

1: Running towards the board.
2: Jumping.
3: Landing on the board.
4: Not seeing the white light.

This is not big, or clever, or really any kind of 'trick' in the strictest sense. It is, sadly, the level I am working at, so I shall take what I can get.

Sadly, I must return to work tomorrow, so little skating to be done.
I'm incredibly happy to see people have been thinking about starting skating again after reading this, and aside from the sense of phenomenal cosmic power, it also allows the opportunity to bring up the question of indoor skate parks, as the good weather cannot last forever.

Thank you to all for the awesome feedback too, I love attention.

Happy skating

Scott.

[MarkMono]

Another handy non-trick for beginners to get you used to flipping the board is to lie it on your feet upside down, then flip it 180 degrees with your toes and land on it.

Repeat until you're comfortable flipping the board over and landing on the correct side.

[supernothing]

I've been going down kelvingrove first thing in the mornings these sunny days. Was down there t 9 the other day and there was no one else there till half 11. I can skate, mind, I just go for the peace and not smashing into kids on scooters, but it would be a good time for learning too though.

[Rio Ohki]

what time did you leave? I got there about one so I might have seen you.

[supernothing]

Usually go like 8 or 9 till 11 or 12ish. You weren't there when I was there. Kelvingrove aint really the best of parks, too much street stuff and that huge open space in the middle just seems a bit wasteful really - better than nothing though!

[Wee Dave]

Yeah they should put a kicker in or a funbox in that empty space.

[Rio Ohki]

Either way it's smooth ground near my flat, in my skater infancy, I'll take what I can get

Does seem a little wasteful mind, though it takes me a while get speed up, being a wuss and what not, so in my case it can come in handy.

[katinacooker]

i got it wrong

""Royal Mail, the Royal Mail Cruciform, the colour red and SmartStamp are all registered trademarks of Royal Mail Group plc.""

[Rio Ohki]

Scott Learns to Skateboard: Day 3 (May. 10th, 2008)

See big companies, they are the enemy. I’m talking about The Gas Companies, the Electricity Companies, The Water companies, the Cable TV Companies. Your local Council too, yeah, fuck them, right in their shiny holes!

Has skating turned me into a vehement anarchist overnight? Not likely. As I like to remind you, I am 23 years old, I have a beard, and I skateboard to work now, listening to Paramore for it’s musical merit (a side note, I actually do not find lead singer, Miss Williams, attractive in the slightest. Shirley Manson is and will always be the one woman for me).

But these companies, they’re the enemy alright, for one shared and simple reason. They keep digging up the bloody pavement!

They take away the nice smooth concrete, the stuff with the wee white stones inside it that you can see, but you can’t feel through the deck of your board. It’s the really nice stuff that doesn’t hurt your feet. They take that away and replace it with some crap that has giant black stones sticking out, the ones that waggle their arse at you and laugh at your aching legs whilst stealing all your momentum. Bastards, the lot of them.

You may have guessed, today’s entry revolves around ‘Street Skating’, and in particular, the following streets:

Argyle Street (West End, past PC World)
Buchanan Street.
St George’s Road.
The bottom of Gardner Street.

I count myself pretty lucky that I was forced back to work just as the nice weather went away, especially as I work in what can only be described as a giant sized greenhouse. Sadly, this did curtail my skating somewhat, but in other ways, allowed me to expand my horizons, and explore the skateboard as a legitimate mode of transport.

To this end, I used my increasingly chipped and scuffed board to sail to work. I say sail, imagine the horrific offspring of a Luxury Ocean Liner on a gloriously sunny yet breezy day, and a new learner driver to whom the clutch is a strange and malevolent device. It went a little like that. Sail along like a plastic bag in an Oscar winning film, stop sharply and flail like a fat kid with a pole, a fixation with star wars, and a rented video camera. That said, I did manage to get to work slightly quicker than if I had walked, so I call this a success.

I also had intentions of heading back to Kelvingrove on my lunch break, however my Father phoned looking for advice on laptops, being that I work next to PC World in Finnieston, and so I had to be contented with skating to ‘Subway’ and back.

The second journey was from Finnieston to Gardner Street in Partick, and was moderately more successful than the first, with the exception of a busload of American tourists, who I would have thought would have been in a better position to avoid a skater with L plates, seeing as they only went and invented the sport. I also found that it was getting easier to keep my balance, and raise the nose (front) of my board slightly in order to traverse that crucial ‘road to pavement’ kerb bump, although I am eternally grateful to whoever has made half of them flat at the bottom, and then ramp-like, presumably for the benefit of wheelchair users. I would have said disabled, but I fear that my flailings on a board are covered by that term. Seeing as my journey ended halfway up Gardner Street in Partick (Famous for its steepness), I decided to walk the last part of it.

The third journey was made down Buchanan Street around 11pm, which was pleasantly quiet, and warm, plus the paving slabs not only provided a nice smooth surface, but made a wonderful ‘clacking’ sound as I surfed along it.

Also, I now have enough in the way of co-ordination to skateboard down a public street, and hold a conversation on the phone. I did worry that the nice police officers on their bikes would stop me for operating a moving vehicle whilst using a phone without the aid of a handsfree kit, but I seem to have beat the ban this time around.

Happy Skating

Scott.

[Draven]

Enjoying reading this, keep up the good work.

[Fenntastic]

i bought a pair of roller skates last year (quads, none of your inline nonsense) with the intention of learning to skate. ive had them on once, in the house. this inspires me to learn...

[bikuki]

I'm totally going to break out my old skates and try them out in the park at some point in the summer

It's a wee bit tl;dr for me (sorry) but I think it's pretty cool as long as you're at peace with potentially being outdone by 9 year olds

Originally Posted by Fenntastic

i bought a pair of roller skates last year (quads, none of your inline nonsense) with the intention of learning to skate. ive had them on once, in the house. this inspires me to learn...

Do you remember me and Ruth Zenith bought roller skates then I broke my ankle and never used them again? I think Laura Nemesis has those now. Good times.