Happy Halloween, Biz x

Irregular grime post 3

London Trip (Vans UK Skateboard Champs)

Always being the keen ambassador of my sport I decided to check out the UK Skateboarding Champs this weekend. It involved travelling to London on the Friday, The Comp on Saturday and then Skating in London on the Sunday back on Monday afternoon. If you're looking for any kind of write up on the actual comp then I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed.

I called Adam Moss whilst I was on the train who told me he wasn't arriving until later on that evening, Oh No, I thought, It was just turning 1pm and I was almost at London, Adam let on that Troy (West) Roberts was in town and after a couple of calls I was in possession of Troys number.

Troy is the funniest guy ever, he's Australian, super hyped and wants to do everything so I was stoked, I got in touch and he told me he was on his way to visit a graveyard in Archway and we should meet at 2 outside the tube station. We started walking towards the place and, on the way there he told me that we would have to pay to go check it out but he was thinking of boosting the wall as he was on a budget. As we got to the Cemetary we noticed the wall was around 7ft high with spikes on the top. This was no problem for us seasoned skateboarders and our cat-like abilities. We quickly negotiated the walls and set about taking photos, this was the biggest most eiree place I have ever seen.

Only 5 minutes in we noticed a group of people walking towards us, we thought nothing of it but a Lady quickly shouted, how have you got in here? who are you? (She was talking people on a guided tour) Troy quickly responded with down there, and pointing the way we came from, she got on the walky-talky, 'Security', 'Security'. She kept asking 'how we got in'. I kept looking at Troy and his face was saying run, I kept shaking my head when the guide wasn't looking. She kept us there, waiting for security. After a couple of minutes, her tour were obviously getting restless. She asked us to walk down a path, turn right and someone would be waiting for us. We walked down the path but ran left, hearing this poor girl shouting in the background - excuse me, excuse me, we hopped the wall and ran away high-fiving and giggling like little boys. It turns out the graveyard is Highgate Cemetary and its super famous, Karl Marx is buried there and all kinds. Troy and his bright ideas. (If the tour guide is reading this - we're sorry, we must have looked like some serious grave-robbers).

Troy

After this episode we decided to do something a little more conventional and, with Troy being Australian we opted for: Ping-pong, Beers, Street Beers, Smoke, Bagels, Shop opening, Edson, Street Beers, Bird-cage, Smoke, More Bagels, John Cattle and then back to Harrow with Zorlac. The perfect warm-up to the UK Skateboard Champs.

The next morning I was well hungover (teaches me for drinking with an Aussie) but Troy cooked up a breakfast only his had a fried banana on it - I wasn't down, he really looks after his friends, top 'Bruce'.



We made our way to Hemel and I did a whole lot of networking and took no photos what-so-ever. I'm sure there are plenty online somewhere. Bumping into all the regular comp heads, Manchester was out in full force and I bumped into John Bell who was on crutches but still the same smiley John as ever. Get well soon bro.

After the comp we went to the after party, it was in a snow-dome not too far away from the comp. If I angled my phone it looked like we were on piste somewhere. I also schooled them at pool. NB: Troy did destroy me at ping-pong the day earlier mind.

Steak

Jerome, chilling, literally

Troy's never seen snow before

Radman, Troy, Adam Moss, Steak & Porno Paul, chilling in a fridge

The next day I went and met Pat, I was hyped on the skate and Pat always is, we arranged to meet some people in Stockwell had a couple of hours there. I love the place, just a bit busy.

Showing Pat the delights of instagram on the tube.

Elephant and Castle for some comedy slams

We also waved goodbye to Nico (Left) who moves back to Italy in the next few weeks, good look buddy pictured with Matt King.

Back to Pat's for Bangers and Mash and an early night, Sheffield was calling me home.

'... Justin?'

How to carry your skateboard.

Sometimes, getting from A to B with your skateboard when you can't be on your skateboard feels tricky. There are so many ways to carry a plank, but not all of these sit well within the unwritten (but very much existing) framework of what is and isn't deemed acceptable skateboard etiquette. So, SBW corp decided it might be useful to document and describe some of the key ways you can carry your skateboard (and what they might signify to other skateboarders). This way you might just be able to separate yourself from the groms.

The following blog is brought to you in collaboration with Lost Art: www.lostartshop.co.uk

Let's start with the basics:

Fig 1: The Classic. This technique is probably as old as skateboarding itself. Carry your board by holding it in the middle (grip tape outwards). You can't really go wrong with this one, it screams legitimacy and you can easily pretend your skateboard's a bazooka of sorts.

Fig 2: The Classic Fail. Occasionally you'll see people carrying their skateboards as described above but with grip tape facing in. This fucks up your coat/hoody/jacket and makes you look like you don't know what your doing. If you see somebody carrying their board like this, the appropriate response would be to take it off them and remove the grip tape.

Fig 3: The Cycling Shoelace. If your one of those trendy types who likes to ride around on your bike in between spots, you might like to try the following: Attach a shoelace to your skateboard's upper and lower truck, carry this over one shoulder and ponce around on your bike like a wet flannel.

Fig 4: Intermission. If you happen to get tired traipsing about, or you have to wait on a friend who's gone to Tesco (other supermarkets are available), you can use your board as a temporary seat.

Fig 5: The Stocks. Carrying your skateboard can wind up tiring out one of your arms. Unfortunately, a by product of this is more muscle development in the arm with which your favor carrying your skateboard, leading to an aesthetically unfortunate lack of symmetry (see below):

One way to avoid this is by carrying your skateboard on the back of your shoulders with both arms.

Fig 6: The Walking Stick. Carrying your skateboard by the nose allows you to double it up as a walking stick. Easiest to do with the grip tape facing in (won't damage your slacks because it's too far out to rub). Avoid extra muscle development by periodically switching sides.

Fig 7: The Mall Grab. All too often we see skateboarders carrying their planks by the truck. This is a completely unacceptable technique. Appropriate responses to such sightings include: Grabbing the offenders skateboard and scraping a belled onto the nose or tail, screaming 'Mall Grab', 'truck holder' or 'Gromit'. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind!

Fig 8: The Indian Water Vessel technique. Occasionally during your travel from spot to spot, situations may occur which warrant the full use of both your hands. In such eventualities you could consider adopting this technique. Simply balance your skateboard on the top of your head and do whatever it is you have to do.

Fig 9: The Backpack Strap. If your trendy enough to have a backpack right now, you can hang your board off one of the straps (again freeing up both of your hands). Pretty good technique although this does leave your skateboard the capacity to swing back and forth and hit you in the knee.

Final note: Thanks to Ash and Muff at Lost Art for providing some inspiring techniques. See the video below for a good example of how to impress other skateboarders whist stationary. If I knew how to work my camera (or computer) the video would be the right way up. Apologies for that.

Today.

New flatbar at dev hype.

Nollie backside flip, point and shoot adoot.

This happened.

March Eight

SBW mate and brilliant human being Marc Height has set up a photo blog. Check it out here.

This is one of my photos, Marc's are a lot better.

Pool Hall Blues

Monday nights are okay.

A quick edit of a few of the games.

Story

I'm bored and hungover so I found all the Story store videos that have got Black Wallet members in.

Now I'm going to have some breakfast and go skate badly.

When I wasn't old I did this!

J Mascis

5 minutes well spent.

S N double O P D O double G

Ronny, Natalie, Philippa and I took a trip to,

to see Snoop Dogg.

Spirits were high.

Philippa's variety of old fashioned sweets gave me and Ron the opportunity to pretend to smoke on the train. We could also have done this with cigarettes but eating loads of them isn't good for you.

The hotel rooms were great, Ron quickly utilized the exposed beams as some kind of executive smart phone perch. Business!

We hooked up with Muff, Russ and Barry for some snap.

Stopped by at new bird on the way to see Snoop (sorry girls). The place has been extended and it looks piss take!

Chipmunk supported,

..this was the general consensus. Mista Jam followed with some loud shouting over a selection of (very quiet) dubstep/bassline. I know this probably reads like it's being written by a pensioner but he was toilet! Spanner ended up throwing his dummy out and storming off stage. If you see him, tell him he's penis. Luckely Snoop came through with a crackin' set:

We left the venue hyped but faced some next level conditions (mystery pharmaceuticals took the edge off). Ron used his smart phone to navigate us back to safety,

while I stood in the rain thinking about Long Beach.

Wet lift.

The next day we spend a few hours in the city (Miranda loves penis forever).

Grabbed a steady full English,

and checked out some dinosaur bones.

You can't beat dinosaur bones.

All in all, a good trip was had by all.

PS: Don't know how aware people are of Unwatchable: A human rights campaign designed to draw attention to rape and violence in the Congo linked to the cheap outsourcing of 'blood minerals' that are often used in electrical stuff (like phones). If your not check it out. Ronny can be seen above, making a stand by trading in his I Phone for a whole different kind of apple communications product.