#2 - 22/04/2009

Being on a basketball court, I was naturally comfortable as it’s my sport of choice, and I’ve spent many a summer inhabiting one, buzzing like a bee in a hive, and lazing like a bear in a cave. The basketball court was also flat and smooth. Aye, this was certainly the place to learn basketball. But also quite good place for me to learn skateboarding due the fact it was, as I said before, flat and smooth. But it was also dark, positioned a wee bit away from the road into the village, and there was no-one else about because it was one of those frost-in-your-moustache, crispy winter nights. No spectators at all to witness the most spectacular display of ungainliness ever performed. Unless my trusted friend Melanie was filming it all secretly and I’m actually a YouTube phenomenon. Luckily I had my hat pulled way down and my scarf pulled way up as it was very cold, but I’ll admit that winter accessory positioning was mostly designed so no-one would identify me. Looking back on it, I’m massively tall, have big glasses and was wearing ridiculously magic clothes, so the whole hat/scarf thing probably wasn’t fooling any passer by. Not that there were many. Thankfully.

I’ve not had many falls at all so far. Which is not due to skill, oh no, no, no, no. Not one bit. It’s due to being very, very cautious. I don’t think I have a reckless bone in my body. No. I’ll rephrase that. I don’t even have a reckless nerve in my body. I’m really calculated with risks. I’ll take them. But I’ll analyze and scope and measure first. Which is one reason I’m not really suited to skateboarding at all.

Here’s an example. First night EVER of skateboarding with Melanie. I’m playing about with the board I loaned from Mike like a kid playing with a nasty piece of asparagus. Pawing at it with my feet, rolling it about with one foot on it, working up the courage to get one foot on and try and get the other one on. Getting the other one on and then immediately jumping right off like I had been stung by a vengeful wasp on wheels. “DAVE JUST GET ON THE BOARD” shouts the Moral Support Department. “Oh okay. Nah. You have a shot just now then.” I said. I thought I better give Mel a go considering she was freezing her cheeks off just to hang out and help on this. Surprise, surprise, she was a natural. Whizzed by. Magic aye.

Well, after a few more nights spread over a long winter of more of the same, I was making tiny amounts of progress. But due to my nature, these steps seemed HUAWAGE to me. Standing on the board. Moving forward. Moving forward more than one metre. Eventually taking on the Indiana Jones-esque void that is The Entire Width of the Basketball Court. Being able to steer left!!! (I’m a goofball… No, I mean goofy stance on the board, so turning left was easy thinking of it. Just lean!). All these things led up towards skating in Kelvingrove Skatepark in sunny Glasgow. No. I lie. Beside Kelvingrove Skatepark in sunny Glasgow (it was actually sunny). This was great though, as my skateboard sensei Tweenie pushed me harder than ever, and taught me loads of new things like how to drop in. On a flat piece of ground. Or in my case, a flat piece of grass (I was so nervous of smashing my face into a pancake shaped mess and the skateboard decapitating some poor granny behind me it made my tummy sore). But the drop in worked!!! So I did it on the path. And that worked too!!! YAAAAAASSSSSSSS! Liking this.

So, from there, things have been developing.

I noticed there was a virginal car park opposite where I work, as the office opposite mine is redundant at the moment. I’ve been honing some skills there on my tea breaks still using Mike’s board. I’ve had help from TJ who works in my office, and this other dude who mysteriously appeared next to me on a board one day too. He’s called Grant, works next door to me (but not in the redundant office obviously) and despite being totally amazing at skateboarding, he was just happy to meet another boarder and was really helpful and encouraging. I’m at the bottom of the skating food chain like a little plankton gazing dreamily up to leaping orcas, so it’s very inspiring to notice how encouraging and cool every other skater I’ve met is. No snobs at all yet. Which is awesome.

So awesome in fact, when I was in Manchester last weekend, I decided to buy my first ever skateboard. It’s gorgeous. The whole story surrounding that milestone of a purchase will be coming up soon of course…. Watch this space.

Later!