Being a bit older than some of you guys, I first got into sk8ing in the summer of 77, just after I'd taken my A levels. I remember walking through Woolworths and spotting a strange, orange, plastic fish-shaped object with wheels on it. A "Skateboard". This was in Fareham, a small town on the south coast. I was bored, so I thought, "why not?" It was only five quid. I lived on the campus of a boarding school at that time (my dad taught there), and it offered an obligingly hilly, smooth tarmac driveway about 100 metres in length. I couldn't wait to get started. Well, the orange board was about as narrow as a ruler, and if I managed to get up to 5 mph I was doing well, but I took to it instantly. I had no trouble balancing right from the start - largely because I was hardly moving! Trouble was, the wheels had open bearings - seemingly designed especially to attract grit and lock the wheels. I went down to the local sports shop after a couple of days, and bought a better board. A wooden deck with superior wheels (still with open bearings, though.) That's when I knew I was hooked: cruising down the drive, negotiating the speed bumps and getting 'air' (all of half an inch). At about that time, I noticed a magazine called Skateboarding UK (or something like that?) and read it avidly every issue. All those grainy B & W shots of kids a lot younger than me doing incredible things on boards of a seemingly totally different species.
Nobody I knew was interested in this new sport, so I had to go it alone. Once I'd learned wheelies, 360s, daffys, nose wheelies and high jump (remember that!?) I graduated to my first proper set-up. Fibreflex, wide Lazers and big red Kryps. What a difference! But now I was obsessed with LARGE wheels (requiring the obligatory half inch riser pads). Later, I got a Pacer Catalina rocker deck and big green Kryps that were like lightning. I built myself a 'quarter pipe' out of two table tennis tables propped up on plastic chairs. The whole thing moved underfoot, but hey! I also built a ramp about 5 feet high in the same manner. When school began again the following September, many of the kids were into sk8ing, and we had a lot of laughs, but I was worried about being 'so much older' than them (laughable now, eh?). Three years of blissful sk8ing followed. In 1980 I went to university, and gave all my decks, wheels, etc, to the kids I'd been sk8ing with for 3 years. I was 'grown up' now and wouldn't need them any more. Biggest mistake I ever made.
In the 80s, boards seemed to turn into monstrous tea-trays, and thought no more about skating. But somehow, there was always somebody sk8ing down the street in Brighton - where I relocated 87. Then, a couple of years ago, I noticed that boards had got smaller again, but with TWO kicktails!! What was going on? Meanwhile, the Xtreme Sports channel was on constantly at my gym (I'm an exercise nut) and I was being bombarded with images of free flying sk8ers performing miracles on wheels. Then I saw "Dogtown & the Z Boys." At the same time, I discovered this website. Synchronicity? Enough was enough! I gave in and bought another board, aged 44, after nearly 25 years. I didn't know what the hell I was doing - all the brands and specifications seem to have changed, and wheels are SO SMALL now - but now I am the proud (and sheepish) owner of an Alien Pro deck, Tensors, and some wheels I don't know the name of. They're quite big, by contemporary standards, so I'm nearly happy. I don't know if this is a 'good' set-up or not, but I like it. Brighton is hilly, thus heaven for sk8ing. Loads of slopes, lots of wide roads with long suffering motorists, and some purpose-built ramps and 'park-ettes.' Currently, I'm relearning ramps and half-pipes (I don't remember it being scary the first time around). I've been back on board a month an my ambition is to learn to do an Ollie (which didn't 'exist' when I was sk8ing before.) Yesterday, I discovered that the campus of the University of Sussex (where I teach) is fantastic for sk8ing. Fortunately it's the vacation, and none of my students can see me. But what is it about me and educational establishments? I feel a second - and prolonged - childhood coming on.
And I definitely won't be giving this board away.