Vote 1 Skatepark

It's election time in this part of the world (Sydney, Australia) and amazingly not one single party has campaigned on the only two issues that matter: building skateparks and legalising dope. Obviously, the world is a better place with more skateparks. Even 'street' parks are better than nothing. Big parks with bowls, banks, weird looking street things and heaps of other stuff are even better. And what about putting lights in them so that they can be used all night. I'd vote for that.

And the dope? We've been waiting for decades now but it just gets worse. The jails are full (and full of dope, too) of people that are either mentally ill or addicted to drugs of one sort or another. We hear daily expressions like the 'war on drugs'. Who cares? Personally I don't like alcohol. I can barely even drink one drink before I feel sick. On the other hand, I have an almost superhuman ability to smoke drugs. I'm not saying drugs, or addiction, are good. They are not, but why should drunks get, well, drunk and everyone else who chooses a different poison go to jail. I don't get that.

All things considered, I'd rather go skateboarding than do drugs anyway. For me, the two things don't really go together. Some of the boys like a spliff or a even a beer before and during skateboarding sessions, but I eat enough concrete as it is - if I'm stoned I lose a bit of judgment and pay for it with skin.

Come election day I'm going skating.

This is Five Dock, Sydney, Australia, part of it, anyway. The old bowl, below, is kind of rougher than it actually looks in this photo. And it looks pretty rough. I read somewhere that it was once voted the worst skate bowls in Sydney. Or maybe even Australia. I think it was one of the first, anyway. A couple of years ago it totally done over, except the old bowl stayed.

The new bowl is bigger than shown in the picture, above. That is the little part of it. There are two more connected bowls and I think the highest part is about 14 foot high, the lowest is about 6 foot high.

The other thing is called the shell. Well I call it the shell. It is just a little bit of fun. I like it cause when I first came to Five Dock and couldn't really do much more than stand on a board one of the old blokes told me to just go in it as fast as possible and turn and come out again. I went charging in and just smashed up.

The old bowl is past vertical and fairly tight and shaped like a bath. No one goes in it much, but there are legends about the occasional pro or drunk person that (some fucking how) drops in and does some amazing stuff.

The other day I attempted to impress my children and everyone else by rolling in on my BE40 which was interesting, but of course no one even noticed. Well my kids did, I suppose, but they just thought I was a wanker.

The new bowl is like this perfectly shaped and surfaced thing. One of these days when no one is around, I'll give the BE a go there - oddly enough I am more confident since breaking my leg, which doesn't really make sense, but who cares.