Such a perfect day...

..I'm glad I spent it with Johnny L. Usually my day off is thursday but with Rob going away at the tail end of this week it was switched to wednesday. I had no plans or expectations. The shoestring budget left to me on the last day of the month ruled out any missions involving being in town. I had accepted my fate and expected sitting in the garden would be the extent of my activities. Imagine my surprise when Johnny L was on the horn at midday throwing a coastal skate park curve ball out there. I welcomed his suggestion with open arms. An hour and a half later we were Whitstable bound in his whip Luigi. This is the name of his car not the Luigi of sale rail fame. He's in Barcelona.
One rucksack containing extra socks, swimming shorts,a towel and a skateboard in the boot. Roughly £4.50 in my wallet and an old box of menthol cigarettes. These don't sound like a winning day's ingredients but that all depends on who the chef is. Johnny L cooked up the plan and it worked, he must have felt like Hannibal. The skate park was fun, for footage just check recent posts on the notch section of markj.co.uk. It's right by the beach. On the skate down to the park there's a mud dirt jump. The ground's hard because of the weather so boosting that on route felt good. What tricks did I do? I did.. After a few hours of skateboarding with intermittent beach lounging we visited Mr Chips in nearby Tankerton. We decided against Ted's van parked up next to the skatepark. I wonder what Ted did before the park was built. Mr Chips furnished us with sausage and chips and Vimto. Johnny L had saved a piece of his sausage for the ender. It's interesting seeing what people leave for last bite when you have a roast dinner. The piece of sausage was snaffled up before John could put a stop to it by a passing dog which was amusing.
We got another good innings in at the park and by the end of it there were just the two of us there. By that point we were rinsed and dirty and sweaty and done. The time had flown to quarter past nine. The sun was setting on the horizon and the sky was a vivid pink.
It seemed like the perfect time to get in the sea. I was amazed at how warm it was in there and enjoyed ducking under water. Lying back in the water looking out at the sunset it felt like we could have been anywhere, it certainly didn't feel like England right then. It's comforting to think that a surroundings makeover is only ever really an hour's drive away. Wednesday felt like a holiday. I spent my last pfennigs on a can of pop and a giant refreshers lollipop. I'm glad John came with the motivation early on in the day and we got to make the most of it. That is my first swimming in the sea experience of 2008, it is 2008 right? I'm backing Whitstable, get yourselves down there.
Next wednesday this is happening..



Get down here next week and have a view.

Magee found this on his travels..



This blog post will self destruct.

They used to have a lining...

...but it's perished! The sun is out and everyone is dusting off those shorts. Knocked the cobwebs off of mine yesterday for a Kent countryside skate mission which was a good time. If you're like myself putting on shorts will cause sock issues. I can't do the long sock, short combo which means tucking that sock back and over your heel. This means feeling like someone has bound your feet. If you want to avoid this issue and aren't backing ankle socks come by and pick up a pair of these bad boys..



They just came in, you could pick up a matching hat too if you feel like representing da erb to the fullest. "What you been doing?"... "bunning". I've decided to start sharing with you things which have been getting my goat. It frees up some head space I've found. Today's pet peeve is fathers who wield their buggy contained offspring like some kind of freedom pass. Congratulations you've pro-created, your charge is now to nurture and protect that little life not push it in front of oncoming traffic at the drop of a hat. The crossing lady/man's job was invented to protect children older than infants and that buggy doesn't come with a built in invincibility shroud. For some reason i've seen this happen a lot recently, it's some kind of young dad flaw. Therapy over for today. The majority of these incidents I have clocked around my neck of the woods. What do I see when I leave my station..



Standard. The youth wreaking havoc and trading ASBO's behind the kebab shop are probably doing so because of some kind of trauma incurred from their early buggy bound days. The taste of impending death at such an impressionable age could have pushed them over the edge. I feel like Victor Meldrew. The root cause is most likely their weed socks. Mr Dominic Marley AKA Marley G the Villain has been having his website re-vamped by Gorm. This should be up and running for your viewing pleasure in the not so distant future. If you need an immediate Marley fix you could pop by this boutique Rob stumbled across..



I'll give you the heads up when the real Dom world goes live. There's a web site called blacklodges that Gareth and myself have sporadically updated. My intention is to write a bit more for it, it feels like moonlighting. When i've written enough on the blog I'll direct you specifically over there. One thing of interest you should really check out is Don Pendleton's interview with Jason Dill. Interviews with him are few and far between. Have a read..

http://www.blacklodges.com/features/index.php?kat=2

The boys are back in the barracks.

Everyday is like sunday

I wish it was, sunday was amazing. First of all it was the best weather. The Wilson, myself and my brother got to Clapham and decided to pick up some food before we entered the main event. Having got some money out what do we see?...Bodean's... Gunshot! I got the chicken burger fail safe and watched my companions annihilate some ribs. I also tested out some shrimp, I've never really liked sea food but it seems I like shrimp and prawns a lot. Walking onto the common we came across this..



It seems quite a few people were already getting juiced. We got inside and the first thing I saw was this massive slide..



There were things to look at everywhere. We investigated. Pimm's was purchased from the Pimm's double decker bus. Some toe wrestling was viewed and ice cream was sampled. Ben and Jerry's ice cream cones were free all day. Different flavours filled different tents. For some reason unbeknown to me I only tried three flavours all day. I'm backing chunky monkey. There were guys air guitaring in one area all day, how they didn't collapse i'll never know. Jerry, one half of the Ben and Jerry's empire welcomed everyone over the mic which was nice. Stands for good causes were positioned all over the place. It seemed like we only just got there and the Lemonheads took the stage. I only have one really good picture for the alley but I think it is worthy..



Evan Dando took the stage and they launched into their set. After the second song Dando threw his sunglasses on the floor and revealed their intentions to play the "it's a shame about Ray album" not just the material but in the order it appears on the record. What a treat. They played the lot. Not quite the lot but Mrs Robinson is not a favourite of theirs. The tracks they followed the Ray album with more than made up for that one omission although it would have stoked me out if they'd played Luka.. It was an hours set, they seemed happy to be there. At points it looked like Evan Dando was on another planet, I'm sure that is just a look though because it was a confident performance. It was great to see them in the middle of a sunny day and be as close as we were. Five or six people back from the front but without any jostle factor. I didn't even need the toilet. After their set, all calls for an encore firmly denied by the organisers we wandered off and found ourselves in the farm enclosure. There was a gigantic turkey..



This weird looking guy was in a pen filled with all sorts... Hamsters, chickens, rabbits, geese. There was no doubt who was the top boy in my mind. Wherever this horrendous red neck wobbled other creatures fled. Here's the rabbit..



who stayed firmly positioned between two bails of hay. My favourite character in this pen was this sad looking grey bird..



It looked fairly unsure of itself. This area had it's own appeal. There was a goose standing on one leg on top of one of the highest hay bails. Due to the burly nature of Deebo the turkey however petting was not encouraged so we moved on to the next..



This pen was filled with goats, cows and sheep. The goats were tearing bags of feed out of childrens hands left right and centre. The two cows were oblivious, one was lying down the whole time but it's pal did a lap and we all got to stroke it. It's calming being close to animals, makes you feel privileged. The day beforehand we were privileged by the presence of a doberman. He was a formidable size and only two years old, at one point he bowled downstairs and an un-prepared Rob was faced with him. Everyone gave him a pat on the head and he was most civilised just a little intimidating. One customer's little boy was fascinated and got to give him a pat too. The doberman about faced and looked towards his owner. His short tail was bobbing about and Dan and myself found this amusing. Often we find the very same things amusing, often they are fairly juvenile. The little boy was obviously on the same wave length and I'm sure at his eye level it looked like a little nose waving about, he was laughing too. The shocker was when he quickly reached out with both thumbs facing forwards aiming just below the tail. That's right those thumbs were heading straight for the balloon knot! The crisis was averted when his father swiped him away. Stifling the hilarity was hard work but we got to enjoy the moment afterwards. Nothing half as funny happened at this pen although I did see a little girl fall through the railing reaching for a cow. Having seen the Lemonheads and the animals we made a move. On route I found some ghetto refreshment..



Likkle bigga! Had to buy it, best name in soft drinks. It mentioned pineapple on the back but funnily enough it tasted like cherryade. Very sweet but worth a go. Where's it from?...



You could do a lot worse than sampling one of these. Fruitily refreshed there was one more pit stop. I've been excited for months about the new Batman installment. I'm not going to ruin it, go and get your cinema tickets, I'd see it again..



There were no complaints. Go and swap your Sheckles for nearly three hours of pure entertainment. It was monday when I started writing this, now it's tuesday and I'm still telling you about sunday. We have some catching up to do.

Sundae on the common

Off to the Ben and Jerry's festival today with The Wilson and my brother...

ñ

French-vanilla, butter-pecan, chocolate-deluxe
Even caramel sundaes is gettin touched
And scooped in my ice cream truck, Wu tears it up

Uncle Luigi..

...has nothing to do with the new sale rail. Uncle Luigi's sales are usually enjoyable but ramshackle events. The sale we have for you this weekend is a beautiful thing, like a swan...



This is the space the sale will fill. It's full of good brands..



This new feature has even lured some girls in. Honestly I have proof..



Will wonders never cease? It's going to run for a little while and will be regularly replenished. Come in quick to get the best bits though. Most tees are £15 and many other items are half price. Batman?

Chosen subject?

Hardware! If that's what floats your boat or you're simply in the market for some new stuff this weekend we have something for you. New boards and other bits and pieces are in and live on the site. One thing that is always in high demand at the weekend is soft or large wheels for the cruise factor, We made sure you have a good pick this weekend. Some Dogtown ones..



These have been in and out a few times as have these..



The zipzingers have been sought after, both sizes are back in black. We have Powell wheels..



We also have the Ricta clouds in all sizes and some OJ's..



If you're not in the market for some oversized bouncy wheels and just want some regular wheels we have a full clip of Spitty's..



Those pictures get you juiced? Not as juiced as the free Cardiel dvd you haven't picked up yet. Another dvd in is Kev Parrot's Savoir Faire..



You should come by and pick up both of them. Alfie, star of wednesday's post sent me a thankyou card this morning. Check it out..



What a good lad, cheers Alfie. The creature hacksaw themed card even has serrated edges. Good use of the quiet life tache, hope you're enjoying that Cardiel board. If you send in your address we'll send on one of the Cardiel dvd's presuming you haven't got hold of one already. I found these this morning and liked them..



These folky looking pictures were scratched by Rob. He used the black imageless polaroids Michael J Fox's busted camera spewed out. Hope that paypal misdemeanour gets re-imbursed Mike or you get that invention patented and send the seller a sock in the kisser down the phone. Good news is Rob made these pictures. Another creative in our midsts is good lad and resident Aussie Paul Brabenec. Two Slam shirts he did for us turned up in a box just now hot off the presses. One with purple..



The same shirt is available but with a black screen over the top..



These are in and ready for you to purchase so pay us a visit. Ever had a couple of beers on an empty stomach and experienced unprovoked rage and a false sense of invincibility. Charlie Young coined a phrase for this phenomenon and is making a fim based on it's premise..


Enjoy the weekend, don't let the Van Damme get the better of you

"In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies"

Sitting on the train home yesterday was interesting. I jetted home form work with the intention of making the cinema near my house. This meant the 7.26 from Charring cross. I usually avoid travelling at this time, it's no good for my blood pressure. Standard issue, train was filled but I managed to scope out a seat before it became full cattle class. One seat was free across from me on the next aisle to my left. An older guy fell into it huffing and puffing. He clutched a McDonalds bag.
It was a hot day, and even though the windows were open any kind of food stuff was going to make it's way into other peoples nostrils. There were a lot of disapproving looks thrown at him but his food focus bounced them back, he was impenetrable. People winced, looked imploringly at one another, went to open the already open windows. I was captivated. First out the bag was a double cheeseburger, at this point with nothing but a cheese salad baguette to eat in the afternoon I have to admit it looked pretty good. He took it to pieces, quick work. Breathing through his nose and barely chewing, the thing was gone I would say in under a minute. Thinking he was done I looked out of the window but then noticing action in my peripheral vision I glanced back at him. The fries were next and they were being thrown at his mouth vigorously.
The fries received a minutes attention too, the same nose breathing, wolf then swallow technique employed. That had to be it I thought, eating food from the arches on public transport at that time of night requires some audacity and I thought the reason he was eating so hurriedly was to be done with it and out of everyones hair. The nuggets pulled shortly after from that paper Mary Poppins bag quashed that theory. He lavished the same attention on them, three chews each and then down the gullet after a generous barbecue sauce dippage. Intermittently he'd slurp from a large cup. This doesn't really sound too deplorable thus far, "guy eats cheeseburger meal plus nuggets on 7.26". This is nothing like the headline about Batman I brought you yesterday. The chicken sandwich followed the nuggets and he showed no signs of slowing, it was demolished just as eagerly. Throughout (what was obviously for others around him an ordeal) I couldn't look away.
The man commenced his feast as the train was about to leave Charring cross, the burgers, fries and nuggets mentioned were gone by the time we pulled out of London bridge. Feeding time was far more entertaining than the free papers littering my every move, thrust at me at every turn. Chicken burger dealt with he pulled out the piece de resistance. What was dessert to be? Only a double decker meat cake, a Big Mac was to be the ender, the after dark hammer. I watched him take his last bite and add to the rubbish in that large paper bag with another carton. As he started dealing with the fanta I sensed the show was over, whacked on my pod and drifted off. Felt I had to share that well balanced nutrition piece with you.
i'd intended to see wall-e but ended up watching Horton Hears A Who. I loved Dr Seuss as a kid. Horton's voice is done by Jim Carrey and the mayor is done by Steve Carell. It's thoroughly entertaining. That's where today's headline comes from, it's not inspired by my train experience. With that much Mcfood in the large intestine I don't think there would have been any butterflies in that mans outhouse. Give Horton a chance, it's a good story..



Off to skate in some good weather. " so let that be a lesson to one and all; a person is a person no matter how small."

Peanuts..

was my favourite when I was a kid, the Charles Schulz creation. Peanuts is the theme of today's Ghetto Snack entry. Alec dropped this by early this afternoon..



I was glad he dropped it in but the thought of it made me feel pretty ill, a Ghetto Snack's judge's stomach needs to be made of sterner stuff. Luckily enough there was a man at hand up to the challenge. Check the nutritional value on this Jamaican sucker..



Dan stepped up to the plate, he was unfazed by the nature of a peanut based drink..



Dan informed me that this was definitely Ghetto, possibly one of the most Ghetto entries. It was drinkable but wouldn't be top of Dan's snack list. It seems a lot of Ghetto snacks have hailed from Jamaica. Dan still tastes peanuts. Good work Alec, this is definitely a contender. A good piece of point of sale is in this week. Nike sofa last week and this week a nicely displayed box of Blind re-issue boards from the kind people at Dwindle...



Another good thing, keep this up and there will be interesting stuff absolutely everywhere, there's a great deal already. Adrian Blanca's show downstairs requires your attention. How many skate shops do you know with a Kimya Dawson doodle on the ceiling?...



Those of you down with Jake's Alley since it's inception may remember Alfie from an early post. He bought the Creature hacksaw board with the knuckle duster tail. Alfie is a good lad and a Rom local. Today was his birthday and he was treated to a new set-up..



Alfie got a banging set-up, the Cardiel bridge burner board, Cardiel Spitfires, Indy's and swiss. He's going to be flying around Romford in no time, happy birthday Alfie!. After Alfies Cardiel purchase more Cardiel product just came through the door. We have a handful of the emotional rollercoaster that is the Cardiel Epicly Later'd interviews on one disc. First come first served, it's a must have/watch..



Finally there's some bad news for the law abiding citizens of Gotham city..

Royal mail..

...providing the alley post today. No brainer from my end. A day of gifts. First up a ghetto snack entry from Bingo! Thanks. Some trife confectionery. The package contained...



Turkish delight. My grandad used to love this stuff but I always hated it. He ran with the pieces deep covered in sugary flour stuff. This came chocolate covered. I tasted a piece and quite enjoyed it, with Dan's assistance it got taken down..



I like the font on this wrapper a lot. The second piece of Turkish delight I sent round to Ash with Charlie. Ash sent me round a rad cake I'm saving till after my lunch from patisserie valerie..



These things are good, Fos' favourite.Thanks Ash. Also in the Ghetto Snack entry from Bingo was this ominous tube with a good font again..



I tried a finger dabs worth as did Dan..



Tastes pretty good, a little like an old chocolate biscuit. We gave Charlie a taste, he laughed at the fat kid in the playground-ness of it. I began by saying you could only really have one taste but he had proved me wrong already and it found a happy home. I think this could be the best received Ghetto Snack yet. Keep them coming..

JAKE'S ALLEY GHETTO SNACK COMP!

Send your ghetto snack contributions to :

The Ghetto Snack Judges
Slam City Skates
16 Neals Yard
London
WC2H 9DP

The next postal surprise was this gem from Stuart at Revival. Again thanks very much...what a good thing..



This box (not your favourite bar) houses a new era and Transworld magazine collaboration to celebrate the 10th annual skateboard awards. The hat's pretty crazy as is the ornate cabinet it lives in..



The top of the cap has a griptape finish, the under visor has a wood finish and it is lined with old mag covers, have a look..



Pretty wild, thanks for looking out Stuart. Was about to sign off and then I glanced back and saw a book Alison dropped in for me yesterday..



Thanks, now I no longer have to select a novel to accompany me on my train rides. Phew, what an overwhelming day of surprise stuff. All of you out there reading, feel free to send in anything you think may brighten our day. Enjoy the weather we have been blessed with. Over and out

You cannot lead these men unless you are prepared to do what is necessary to defeat evil.

Album of the year came out this week, film of the year comes out next week and I can't wait..



Gunshot!

"es I guess!"

The Adrian Blanca show was a great success on thursday night. Lots of heads showed up and enjoyed the show, the beers and the tapas. Adrian drew throughout the day. Rob caught him in his natural environment..



The shows he has been touring have all gone really well. I got the feeling he was enjoying his time here, in between the three days of drawing the intricate piece on the wall downstairs he got to zone out on some skate videos. I watched most of beer slave with him. The shows coincide with the shoe collaborations being released. Here's one of them..



You can see some of the other shoes in this picture of Adrian at work..



This picture gives you some kind of idea of the scale of the painting he took on..



Once the painting was finished the show began. We enjoyed Estrella which reminded me of every trip I ever took to Barcelona. We also enjoyed tapas whilst playing with Gorm's skate trivial pursuit cards. Here's some tapas..



and here's some more..



The third plate along on the left hand side housed the tapas banger. Patatas....err basically omelette on toast, really good. I'll show you my favourite framed picture of Adrian's..



There's a lot of work downstairs, you should really come and have a look. Everybody left beered and fed and on to other events around the city. After most of the debris was cleared we went out for a meal celebrating Adrian's successful show courtesy of the kind people at Sole tech. We took a cafe Pacifico piece and it was really good..



This is what I went for..

DEGUSTACION DEL PACIFICO
A combination of one roast beef taco, one chicken enchilada and one cheese quesadilla, garnish of guacamole and sour cream, served with rice and beans.

It was very good, Covers all the bases too. Thanks very much to Tom Henshaw and everyone at Sole Tech who made this event possible and for their help in it's smooth operation. Here's to many more successful shows in the future. It wouldn't be a saturday afternoon post without a photo of Neil would it?



He's enjoying a buffalo chicken burger as we speak/type/read. Viva Neil Young!