We had a very odd post on our comments telling us that the Friday Night Skate site that we were linking to in an earlier post was actually to an imposter who is causing problems for the ‘proper’ operators of the Friday Night Skate.
Now, we don’t know what has been going on but I can only assume that a) someone is taking the piss and is trying to get sponsorship for an event they are not involved in or b) there has been some sort of falling out.
Whatever it is it looks like the correct site for the London Friday Night Skate is http://www.lfns.co.uk. This is run as a not for profit organisation by the marshals who run the skate. The original site we linked to (http://www.thefns.com actually calls itself the Urban Rites Friday Night Skate so we have taken it that the info in the blog post is correct and updated our links.
As far as the skating goes we are both getting better, although we do need to find more places to skate than our own street. I am starting to get more confidence (and am now waiting for the fall) as is Mim who is taking it sensibly slowly. From not being able to skate at all she is now able to go up and down the street comfortably, stop (slowly), just about negotiate kerbs and has a general air of not about to fall over.
Tasks for this week are to get out on the skates more and to some places/parks/other spaces where we can get out and see some different scenery to build experience and confidence.
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for your link update. I’m not sure if you are London Based or not, but if you are, there’s some really good free skating activities for beginners in London at the moment.. http://www.skatepatrol.co.uk do free beginner (stopping and starting) lessons on the Serpentine road in Hyde park every sunday afternoon, and there’s also a beginners skate called the easypeasy (http://www.easypeasyskate.co.uk – run by the Urban Rights guys))at Battersea park every Saturday morning 10:30am at the Peace Pagoda. I try to help out with this skate as often as I can because I think it important to encourage new skaters, as it can be quite daunting getting into the street skating scene… I will be going tomorrow am, and probably next Saturday.. You can get all sorts of free advice and coaching during the 2 big laps of the park… I then – depending on numbers – do an extra lap of the park at Sunday stroll speed, with “random braking” to give people a taste of what it’s like on the Sunday Stroll – which goes out on the roads of London itself). Come along and say hello…
Marty,
Our target for the moment is to try and get down to the friday night skate next summer. We are based in Manchester and a bit poor at the moment (don’t worry we can still eat and stuff!), so coming down at the mo for a friday night is a bit too rich for us.
Aiming for it for next year allows us to not get too stressed about not doing it this year and hopefully we will be in a better position with money by then too.
See you there next year (sooner maybe if I get a pay rise)
No worries.. Check out http://www.serpentineroad.com. This is the main (English speaking) hangout for skaters all over the world, although its mainly based around the people who hang out in London.. I’ve been to many events in Europe over the last 12 months and it never ceases to amaze me how close knit and friendly a bunch we skaters are…
I’m from (south West) Manchester myself. From what I’ve heard they’re not so friendly to Skaters up there.. I won’t post/ask for details as it’s a wee bit public here:-)
If you’ve not done a Friday skate before, then you must checkout the website’s requisites. It’s the hardest skate we do, and one of the hardest (due to speed and some rough surfaces) in Europe (he say’s knowing full well he can’t prove it;)
If you want night skates, you might find the Wed skate better, but whatever you do, don’t get the train home until you’ve done the Sunday stroll.. (so aim for 7pm+ trains home).
If you register on Serpentineroad, introduce yourself and I’ll say hello..