S.E.D.J. Day 30 - Solo Lunch-Time Skate at Meanwhile Gardens

Another cold day in London and another lunch-time skate mission for Skate Every Day in January.  It was either going to be Meanwhile Gardens or Meanwhile II and only the weather would decide.  I was happy that it had stayed dry over the weekend into today meaning Meanwhile Gardens was on.

Arriving at work today on the motorbike I was all set to park round at the back of our building and then I remembered what happened last week, with the Vans blocking me in, and decided Soho Square was the "Better safe than sorry" choice.  Fucking good thing too, seeing as when I was walking to my bike at about 1.00pm I saw a van jammed into the entrance of the Mews that would have blocked me in again.  I felt quite smug as I walked past and jumped on my bike and off without any delays, and with no urges to kill anyone.

Nice try.

Although I've generally found these lunch-time skates quite stressful, today I really enjoyed the ride up to Westbourne Park, leaving Soho heading down to Piccadilly, round Hyde Park Corner, Park Lane and off down to Notting Hill.  The sun was out and maybe I was a bit more relaxed knowing this was the last one of S.E.D.J. For whatever reason it struck me how lucky I am to live and work in as amazing a city as London and how this city has really helped me in getting this far with my challenge.

Another Meanwhile Gardens Panorama

When I got to the bowls they were empty; not a huge surprise. The lack of company was not a problem today, I knew what I was there for and it was just to have a relaxing roll around and do a load of backside disasters in the two top sections off the bowls, in an attempt to get a bit more consistent with them.  While skating I became very aware of the aging that's taken place here.  Last summer was all about the fox spot so I didn't skate here too often and maybe that's why the change seems more drastic but there are a lot more dodgy bits to keep an eye out for. God knows what the chances of repair are?

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Towards the end of my skate Awadh was walking past and came into the park for a chat, he was heading off to check out Clapham, it's a shame he hadn't set out half an hour earlier and we could have had a skate, there aren't many people who are more fun to watch skating Meanwhile Gardens than Awadh.  Back to skating, a few more Back-Ds and I was done.

Day 30 was never going to set the world on fire but I did put it to good use and avoided a potential Van-blockade disaster.  Having ticked this one off the calendar I only have one more day to go, that's right only one left.

The final skate, Day 31 is going to be back in the same kind of surroundings that my skateboarding life began, a Car Park. Part of me feels a little disappointed that it'll be ending in a whimper rather than a huge fanfare and another part of me thinks that it's fitting because is representative of real skateboarding and how it's been done on this country for decades. Tomorrow night from about 9:45pm I'm heading to the Sainsbury's Car Park in Kingston to finish what I started and to have fun riding my skateboard.  If you fancy a slice of the good-times you know where to be.

Maybe see you out there.

[LIALC]

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

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]