Technical difficulties.

One of my favourite video parts of all time is Natas Kaupas' part in Streets On Fire.
Aside from the obvious first outing of the "Natas Spin", some wild tricks and the cool hi-tops, one thing that always sticks with me is the big ollie into axle stall that he does (0:47 in the video below).



Natas could make almost anything look good. I've got a long way to go before I get anywhere near that level, but there was no harm in trying.

Sunday was a difficult day for me in terms of logistics and technology.
First of all, I had been invited to dinner at my parents at 4pm. It wouldn't have been very polite of me to let them down, so much of the day was spent trying to figure out how to get there in time on public transport, whilst also getting to skate for a while.

This was proving difficult. The normally frequent trains from Dunfermline to Edinburgh are greatly reduced on a Sunday and as I was already on course to miss the first train. The next one would leave me with no chance of getting a skate in.

So, my options were quickly dwindling, what was I going to do? I decided that I had to skate something. Two days of being on call and stuck in the house had given me a hunger for it.

Time was of the essence and I could see any chance of skating quickly slipping out of my grasp, so I decided the best thing to do was to just head into Edinburgh and skate the first thing I found...

Beggars can't be choosers, some gnarly tarmac. But with a kerb nonetheless.

I don't know why I need to listen to music when I skate. Perhaps it is a mild agarophobia, But without my trusty MP3 player, I find it difficult to leave the house. No sooner than I had left to get the bus (which seemed to be the best option to facilitate a bit of skateboarding before dinner time), I noticed that the sound coming from my MP3 player was intermittent.

I've owned a number of sets of earphones in my time and I get through a set every few weeks. I know when there's a problem and it was quickly becoming apparent that I had a loose connection in the cable  of my earphones at the jack plug. I tried in vain to overcome the problem, but it was too far gone. No amount of cable wiggling was going to result in an uninterrupted musical experience.

Crappy spot to skate, nice scenery.

As if that wasn't enough, shortly into the hour-long bus journey, the music stopped once and for all. The battery was dead and that was that. Disappointed, I rifled through my bag to check my gear, only to find that not only was my camera almost out of batteries too, but I had left my SD at home. In my laptop!

So all there was left was my board. The last thing I could rely on.
Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed and after a quick detour for batteries and an cheap SD card, we were back in business, albeit without some inspiring music.

Once in Edinburgh, I spent a while looking for a kerb low enough and local enough that I could guarantee to get the trick and get it in time. Next time, check, check and check again before heading out...

Some graffiti, yesterday.

In the space of twenty minutes I had found two spots within spitting distance of my mum's house which fitted the bill for some Natas-inspired axle stalls and got them down after several attempts.

The beauty of having 66mm wheels is that you can pretty much skate anything and it's just as well as opportunites were certainly limited this day...