Bloody Sunday

Just a quick update. Went out for my weekly Sunday afternoon longboarding session with Billy 'The Kid' Clucas and experienced my first 'stack'. For those of you not down with the skater lingo I basically fell off my board. Quite spectacularly in fact. Speed got the better of me whilst negotiating a rather steep hill and I ended up 'eating concrete'.

It could've been worse. I came away with bloodied gashes to my hip and elbow but it was nothing a tube of Savlon couldn't fix.

Told the bloke that cuts my hair about BoardFree today. He seemed interested although he's probably developed an eroded opinion as a result of the decades of mundane conversation he's had to endure whilst tending to cornish barnets.

What I'm talking about, I really don't know.

G'Day

Dairy entry
26th January 2003:

AUSTRALIA DAY

Mum called - which was nice. Said she recieved the package but Sairsy broke into it thinking it was a pressie for her. Nickyboy off to Barbados with Plum. Went to Hyde Park with Eddie, Connie and Trisha to listen to funk and chill. Got excessively drunk. Had a $5 salad and drew on Trisha's face when she fell asleep. Had BBQ chicken wings for dinner. And soup.

Bless

It seems like a long time ago I was sitting in a sun-drenched park in the middle of Sydney, with some Irish persons, listening to a funk band and drinking wine. And it seems like a long time until I'm there again. But its not.

Today is Australia Day. So I thought i'd break my 'post-a-month' habit and give the world an update less than week since my last (aren't I good?).

I went out for my first proper longboarding session on Sunday with one of my hommies Billy. I borrowed my housemates longboard. My housemate is a female and her longboard has a flowering pink pattern on it. I left the house knowing I looked like a tart trying to longboard. Had a good run though (apart from a nasty encounter with an oncoming car at the first corner!). Got some muscle ache afterwards. Echoes of the BoardFree kickabout last week come flooding back. Brilliant session though.

I've spent the last three days in Essex gathering some much needed funds. Chatted to a Romford lad and an American session guitarist (who lives in Sweden) about BoardFree. Anybody is interested in this project. I'm sending them some leaflets.

I was listening to the radio on my way back to Falmouth and they were talking about Australia Day. What a country. I had a great day three years ago. I particularly enjoyed my entries either side of this day; the day before I was at the Big Day Out, met up with a long lost friend, and had a particularly unfortunate pooing problem. And the day after the entry simply reads: 'Lazy day - did f**k all'.

Gotta love it!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY

First Rule of Filmaking is..........Press Record.

Last Friday I drove up to Worcester to see my Grandad. I didn't see him over Christmas and I thought it was about time to tell him about this BoardFree malarkey (I also needed to thank him for bunging me £50). I rocked up quite late but he greeted me with a bag of Walkers and a bottle of Cava. We had typical generational banter: He reminisced about his wine-making era and the antics of my Dad while I described the standard of totty at university and demonstrated the wonders of his recently purchased DVD player.

I then dropped BoardFree into the conversation. Baffled. The bottle of Cava had emptied and I moved onto the Hock. Whilst explaining the story of how it all happened and what BoardFree was all about he says "Presumable you can do this skateboarding business?"

Well, no actually.

Amidst the fits of laughter I realised that I MUST be able to longboard before I go to Australia. Not only that, I must also be confident enough to skate whilst filming.

The next day I went to Swansea and met up with the team for the first time since Dave gave me the good news. We went out filming and, much to my embarrassment, my thumb seemed to shy away from the record button at a couple of crucial moments. I blame the camera.

That evening we had the pleasure of welcoming Dan Loo to the van. What a legend. Dan is a lovely bloke (despite being a Liverpool supporter) with a phenomenal right boot. He'll be helping me out with some camerawork and editing which will be great for the documentary (he'll also remind me to press record!).

On Sunday the BoardFree boys had a kickabout with some ex-geography teachers. Its depressing how unfit I am. Its now Friday - 5 days later - and I'm still having problems walking without looking like a spastic. Go on the BoardFree website to watch the video Becki made of us playing football. Step aside Motty, Becks is the new voice of football!

It was good to see the team again. I managed to spend a bit more time with Rae and Phil than last time. They're the type of people who bring a smile to your face. Genuinely a lovely couple.

After the weekend, I have two set myself two goals to reach before August: get fit, learn to longboard.

Anyway, I'm meant to be writing a dissertation at the moment so I suppose I'd better get back to it. Then i'll get fit. Promise.