Earley Skatepark and the Ghosts of Teenage Regret.

When I think back to the time that I lived in this area, around '88 to '94, I can remember the slim pickings we had for places to skate. Wokingham was home and had Tesco Steps, the bank to wall across the road, the tiny little tranny-to- curb behind Iceland, the new building and the odd bench in a half decent position on a skateable surface. Of course we had various mini-ramps pop up for short spaces of time and then finally the long campaigned for Midi and miniramp at St. Crispins, those metal rareunit jobs that had the massive coping.

Had this park existed back then god knows what the locals could have developed into. It's a fact that what you skate and who you skate with will have huge impact on your speed and extent of learning on the board. So I'm super happy for the kid I met on Saturday who lives directly opposite this fun and varied park. My 16 year-old self is insanely jealous of him though.

Earley is about half way between Reading and Wokingham and within easy striking distance of my parents house, so I'm pretty stoked to have a decent park to skate when I come out this way. The park is pretty well thought out but does seem to be another park that has way to much ground NOT covered in concrete. I'm sure it's a cost consideration but it makes for collision heavy tracks instead of a flowing park with room for manoeuvre. It's a shame because this park has some nice touches, unfortunately to link them together your going to have to risk BMX shaped death from above.

The bowl got the most attention from me this visit and will definitely be seeing more of me. For now you can take a look at photos below and decide if It's worth a visit.

[LILAC]

Skaters, Splinters and the Art of Perfectionism.

It's a well known fact that if you want new stuff to skate the only guaranteed way to make it happen is to... well, make it happen.

So when you get a phone-call or an e-mail from Johners telling you that he's going to build some stuff at his place over the weekend you know where to be come Saturday morning.

Pouring concrete is one thing but Adam is all about being a multidisciplinarian so this weekend was all about carpentry.

Here's what happened.

Toby came along too, and started to saw

Harry arrived just in time to plan a masterpiece.

Max protected the secret plans

Sometimes Essex muscle isn't quite enough.

Look at that... text book positioning.

it begins to take shape.

Is it me or has Johners got this shit down?

You can never have enough struts.

Martyn was there for the tense part.

This is a precision job this.

Look at that finish.

"Down your end a bit"

He had to be the first.

The day's production.

You'll be able to skate these beauties in the not too distant future, keep your ear to ground.

[LIALC]

Hippy With a Jig-Saw

No, not a location still from the set of the latest B-movie Horror re-make starrining Rutger Hauer but a photo of one of London's most productive DIY builders taken on Sunday.

I don't think Johners does Terrifying anyway.

More tomorrow.

[LIALC]

Impending Hangovers & Tight Trannies

This weekend I managed to make a morning mission over to the new Ealing skatepark (it's between Castle Bar Station and Perivale tube) to see what they had come up with and try to have a scooter free skate for once. 

Desperate measures were employed by means of a 6:30AM alarm. I'd e-mailed a few people to see who was up for taking advantage of this low traffic time of day, to which I did get responses.  All declined my kind offer, some using impending hangovers or other perfectly valid excuses.

It's not the most imaginative park in the world ut is has a perfectly skateable and fun bowl, a few fun bits on the street course and a weird open-ended, tight-transitioned, pool-coping'd bowl type thing which I really liked. That little thing was virtually impossible to skate but definitely the main reason I would go back, just to see what the hell I could mange to get that thing.  It feels more like a DIY creation than part of a council funded skatepark.

As ever, don't take my word for it... get over there and see/skate for yourself.

Meanwhile take a look at the photos.

[LIALC]