It's All About the Brakeless Segway, Yeah!?

If you spend enough time in and around Soho or East London you get to see some really bad stuff. I don't mean violence or drugs, I mean people slavishly following crappy trends in order to fit in and then take them to unnecessary extremes in order to out-do all the other hipsters.

Yes, I ride a fixed Gear Bike to work, but I have brakes on mine. Yes I had a mustache on my stag weekend, but I shaved it off when I got home. People need to know when to stop.

And some people take it too fucking far.

Like this guy and his Reynolds 531 Brakeless Fixie-Segway!!

What they tell you is cool.. generally isn't.

[LIALC]

Never say Die... or SEX.

You probably already know that the Jam/Comp that was planned for Laupside last Saturday didn't go ahead, mainly due to Laupside no longer existing.

It transpired that the local council demolished it on Friday morning, the day before the Jam. It has been mentioned that painting the date of the Jam on the wall of the spot may not have been the most covert publicity tool and that councils tend not to see irony in use when a web flyer announces "Skate Jam, Skate Comp, BBQ, Raffle, Beers, SEX"

You can just imagine the weird happenings that little list conjured up in Mr. Council Man's mind. Obviously the only possible course of action left was to make sure this debauched BBQ-RAFFLE-SEX party could not take place...the cry when up... "SEND IN THE BULLDOZERS!" ... and Laupside was no more.

BUT.... before Laupside there was another spot (that will remain nameless). For those who still came along we knew where we needed to go. Considering this was a second choice/emergency option it's pretty damn good.

Thankfully rain stayed away and the turnout was pretty damn good. Just some of the people in attendance were Witchcraft Coven (French, Sam, Jamie, Jake and Nico), Stevie Thompson, Stu Love'n'Skate, Laup himself, Alex I, and many more. the BBQ and Raffle went off without a hitch. After food there was even a kick-a-bout that nearly broke my foot when I mistook the ground for the ball. Definitely no SEX at any time.

Here are a few shots that I managed to get, to be honest I was having too much fun skating.

Jamie pole-jamming the super sketchy pole.

Chris P. front blunting the block

Alex pole-jamming to tail smack

Sam destroying the quarter

Thanks to all involved for a great day in the face of bureaucratic adversity.

[LIALC]

Build It And They Will Shred!

Portland has Burnside, Philadelphia has FDR, Sweden had Steppenside and now England has Laupside.

In the traditional manner of these DIY parks, skaters decided to start building stuff without any permission from anyone but have since struck compromise agreements with the powers that be, letting it happen as long as everyone is cool. With Laupside this is even more amazing as the spot's nearest neighbor is the local, and very large, Police Headquarters.

I'd been meaning to get up to this spot for a while but illnesses and all sorts of stuff had been getting in the way. Last night Jamie came over and we jumped in the car and headed for Laupside. It's an amalgamation of versions of standard skatepark stuff but built as either smaller, tighter, weirder versions of the originals. It's been a truly sporadic project, with new bits being built as and when, meaning that you need to have a good look and think to figure out what to do. Each element has character that's for sure and it all ads up to a spot that demands a lot and getting anything on these creations is an achievement. Oh, and it likes to hurt you too. I am currently suffering the effects of one of the worst Shinners I've had for years.

Of course Jamie loves it (check out his ollie on the bank last night), and I can see why, you'll never get to skate a spot as fun as this until someone builds another one. Maybe you?

So this weekend you had better get yourself down to Laupside and join in what is going to be an epic Skate Jam/Comp at a completely unique spot.

Seriously this will be the stuff of legend soon, make sure you can say you were there.

Details below. See you there.

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Legend of the Abandoned Bowls

I wonder how many mentions there are of rain on this blog each summer, someone with more time on their hands would probably look into that and come up with a definitive number... don't hold your breath.

Yesterday in the South East was wet, sporadic showers is how they describe it. Thankfully it was warm enough for the Meanwhile Bowls to dry out in time for my arrival for an evening roll. I figured there would be a few of the usual Wednesday night regulars there, some would be scared off by the rain, but the hardy few would still be up there.

I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong.

There were about 8 BMXers there when I arrived but soon they were more intent on getting stoned, so for about an hour I had the place to myself. A few puddles kept things interesting but that's about it. I don't often skate on my own and I'd forgotten how much I dislike it. Inspiration, motivation and conversation are things that the people you skate with provide and when they're not there, I notice. By 8:30 PM the next shower came and killed the one-man session for the night anyway.

Having the place to myself was great, but ultimately shit too.

Personally, it's not over until I turn up and the place is so wet it's un-skateable. The great thing is, I got a skate in last night. I'm planning on doing the same tonight.

Fingers crossed.

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Jamie Takes Advantage... of summer

The heat is definitely getting to me. It's not that I get lazy, I just do stuff in a less energetic way. Some people have still been getting out there and putting full effort into these rare days of summer.

Jamie Aargh is not one to let days like these go by without a skate and thankfully there is quite often a camera rolling too.

Here are 10 tricks from Jamie representing the evil that is Witchcraft Hardware.

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