Best hobby ever?

When I was about 12/13 years old I found skateboarding. It was amazing, mind blowing, out of this world and I wanted a piece of it. This was a time before the skateboarding games were out on computer consoles, skateboarders weren't cool, they were a gang. The rebels. I remember being sat in a car park with my skateboard sipping on a can of coke after riding around in circles, a car showed up and all these skateboarders rushed out popping tricks left, right and center my heart was pounding. THIS IS IT, I thought to myself all I want to do forever is this.
Through skating around town and walking around with skateboard in hand I started to get to know the local skateboarders and soon was skateboarding with them on a daily basis. I started to learn tricks and found a love for throwing my self down stair sets and over grass gaps. With this group of skaters I started to go to different towns and meet skateboarders who lived elsewhere. It was quite a small subculture, but a great one good parties and good times. From meeting all these new people new musical tastes were found. I really enjoyed going to DIY punk gigs getting shitfaced and having a mad time.
The computer games came out, skateboarding was 'cool' people who skated in the first place in the tight net gangs, the subculture, were now overwhelmed with people who wanted to be part of this new fad. It was a good thing for the industry I guess, more money to help companies. People could make a living from skateboarding, the one thing they loved. As time went on though you could tell who were the die hard skateboarders and who were there just for the looks, the groups shrunk back down again to the people who were there in the first place. Maybe a handful of the computer generation stayed on.
The hard thing about growing up and skateboarding is drinking and parties, on a Friday and Saturday which you would spend skateboarding and maybe have a couple of cans of beer between the ages of 14-16, you now at 17/18 found yourself going to the pub and spending all your money and all night there. No money means no new deck for your skateboard and it gets neglected. You start to lose the tricks you tried so hard to learn as a kid. Inside yourself though you still know your a skateboarder I found I just had to not go out all the time keep some money and spend it on my true love. You got to ring the crew up yourself get them to pull there finger out and come skating and if they ring you, you have to be ready to pull your finger out and go skate.
The rush is still there and it's never going to leave I'll have to be dead before I stop skateboarding for good. I was lucky enough to be blessed with an opportunity to skateboard and its the one of the best thing I have ever done so far.

(This little clip is from about 2006 I think)



I could write so many stories of the people I have met skateboarding, the things that happened at certain events and the genral mayhem that could follow us around sometimes but I would be here far too long though.
There have been some bloody good times and I know more good times are to come all becauce of skateboarding.
'Skateboards Save'