S.E.D.J. Day 20 - Eastbound and Ground Down

Let's do some maths.

Add 30 to 30.  Then add another 20 to the total you had after adding those two thirties together.  What have you got?  I'll tell you what you've got; an our's worth of dodging Central and East London traffic with a ridiculously short mini-ramp skate in the middle there somewhere.

I've had Mile End on my list right from the beginning of the Skate Every Day in January adventure.  Both then and this morning I trusted the estimated journey time that Google Maps gives you when you get directions.  19 minutes was the time given. NOT correct.

These timings have become critical on the lunch-time smash'n'grab sessions.  Minutes count.  And knowing where the fuck you are actually going helps too.  Now I'm pretty good with maps but maps and motorbikes don't really get on and there's no fucking way I'm having a sheet of perspex with a plastic coated map and loads of bull-dog clops in the front of my bike. Oh no, because I have a smart phone, and google maps and an integrated sat-nav and earphones, that's right.

Stuart... umm, Stuart again and Matt on the mini-ramp.

All this technology is great right up until you hear the disembodied female robot voice announce "GPS  signal  lost", for fuck's sake!  The upshot being that I overshot the park and had to turn back on myself, nearly ended up on the M11 and had a minor altercation with a London Taxi Driver, they're really nice guys aren't they?

Now the good bit.  When I made it to the park it had been raining the entire length of my journey and my reason for going to Mile End was the min-ramp.  When I made it there I was lucky enough to find myself skating it with to guys called Matt and Stuart, really nice guys, and would you believe Stuart had even heard about S.E.D.J. we think it was via facebook, so that was rad.  I felt a bit bad for Stuart who had booked the day off work to skate the park-proper and was being confined to the mini-ramp for the day, he seemed to have come to terms with it though.  Yet again I had to drag myself away.  I think Stuart and Matt were a bit shocked when I announced that I had to leave only 20 minutes after arriving.  Why wouldn't they. I mean, who the hell turns up at a park to skate for twenty minute and then leaves?

Day 20. A Day of extremes.  Extreme traveling, Extremely short skate. Extremely stressful deal all round. Yes I got the skateboarding bit ticked off and I learnt a valuable  lesson.  Keep the session close to base wherever possible.

Now for Day 21.  Tomorrow I need to squeeze in a skate between 11 and twelve and am going to go to Sundbury again to try my luck.  The weather is talking about showers but again I'm going to risk it and hope that I get lucky.  If you're feeling lucky I'll see you there from 11am to 12pm.

[LIALC]