Ooo ah, I am in Vancouver! A super last minute decision, I was meant to fly back to Europe but Rayne invited me to hang out with them for a while so here I am. The flight from Hawaii was pretty average. I sat behind a handicapped fella who would breath like Darth Vader with his mouth wide open and his carer who had a computer with the loudest keyboard in existence! I swear, I was looking for the bastard who was clicking his pen non stop, turns out it was her keys. I have no patience for people like that who are so oblivious of the noise they are making. Be it yabbering on the phone while sitting on the bus or talking at the top of your lungs in a nice peaceful cafe. I would have them gassed if it were up to me!
Landed in Vancouver at 10ish in the morning. Underwent extensive Customs procedures thinking that I might not get into the country, met Tony Graves who kindly drove me to where I would be staying and jumped out in the middle of China Town at Flatspot Longbaord shop. It's a rad shop which is being run by fellow Rayne rider, Mischa Chandler. A couple of other guys own the shop with him but i haven't met them yet so not gonna mention them... The shop is a huge space with a lot of product but most importantly, it has a DIY wooden bowl built at the back. Concrete coping which was poured on site and shaped like a pool tile and super small (a little over knee height). It's hard to maintain any speed in the thing but it's fun and super ghetto.
We are living above the shop. A lot of Rayne folks live in the building which is owned by the Chinese Freemasons. They spend their days playing Marjong and smoking opium in a little room down the corridor. China Town is the drug mecha of Vancouver, maybe even Canada. There are a serious number of junkies and crazies wandering these streets at night. People on corners offer you drugs and the woman offer blowjobs in exchange for a dollar or two. That might sound great, but they are also skinny, malnourished, withering junkies. The streets are dirty and there are needles on the ground. I saw a man getting his dick sucked between two dumpsters in the back alley while I was standing out on the fire escape. I saw a man take 10 minutes to walk across a 20 meter long car park as he fought off an invisible attacker. He fell over a few times, wrestling his enemy on the ground. Eventually he got to a knee high concrete barricade that surrounds the edge of the carpark. He hung out for a few minutes trying to work up the courage to cross and then went for it. He fell straight to the ground on the other side, hands and chest first with his feet still up on the barricade. This is not Hawaii...
I had planned to skate at a nearby park on the day I arrived but ended up falling asleep on the couch all day. I was knackered from the flight. Turns out that was the only dry day Vancouver had seen in weeks and everyday since then it has been pouring. I'm not riding in the rain. I don't care what the Canadians say about it, I don't like it and I refuse. I have mostly been hanging out at the shop skating the death bowl and I have been visiting the Rayne factory to make sure everything is running smoothly... Or just stand in the way of people asking silly questions.
Headed to a Sikh temple last night for some free food. Every night there is a free vegetarian meal there. Only 30 or so people bother to rock up though and they are all skaters from around the city. No homeless people, no drug addicts, just 20 something year olds looking to save some coin. One of the Sikhs who is a white guy but still has the long beard and the turban on his head is known as ''the white Sikh''. He is a grumpy fella who yelled at us because we arrived half an hour early and kicked us out of the building. When you go up and get your food, you walk along in a line with a tray and there is a person on each different type of food and they just spoon it into your tray as you move along. The white Sikh was last, he had the sweet stuff meant to be eaten last. It was a sweet youghurty type stuff and some sweet honey covered whatsits. He didn't give a shit though, he would spoon up this stuff and hurl it onto your tray. Some would spill over the edge, the yoghuty stuff would go in your lentils and you would have whatsits in your rice or soup. I couldn't help but laugh when he did it, you can't complain because the food is free and they are feeding you and washing your dishes for nothing. The only thing you can do is laugh...
Dunno what my plans are, waiting out the weather and just lurking at the Rayne Factory seeing how things are done. Haven't taken any photos because I'm lazy.
Landed in Vancouver at 10ish in the morning. Underwent extensive Customs procedures thinking that I might not get into the country, met Tony Graves who kindly drove me to where I would be staying and jumped out in the middle of China Town at Flatspot Longbaord shop. It's a rad shop which is being run by fellow Rayne rider, Mischa Chandler. A couple of other guys own the shop with him but i haven't met them yet so not gonna mention them... The shop is a huge space with a lot of product but most importantly, it has a DIY wooden bowl built at the back. Concrete coping which was poured on site and shaped like a pool tile and super small (a little over knee height). It's hard to maintain any speed in the thing but it's fun and super ghetto.
We are living above the shop. A lot of Rayne folks live in the building which is owned by the Chinese Freemasons. They spend their days playing Marjong and smoking opium in a little room down the corridor. China Town is the drug mecha of Vancouver, maybe even Canada. There are a serious number of junkies and crazies wandering these streets at night. People on corners offer you drugs and the woman offer blowjobs in exchange for a dollar or two. That might sound great, but they are also skinny, malnourished, withering junkies. The streets are dirty and there are needles on the ground. I saw a man getting his dick sucked between two dumpsters in the back alley while I was standing out on the fire escape. I saw a man take 10 minutes to walk across a 20 meter long car park as he fought off an invisible attacker. He fell over a few times, wrestling his enemy on the ground. Eventually he got to a knee high concrete barricade that surrounds the edge of the carpark. He hung out for a few minutes trying to work up the courage to cross and then went for it. He fell straight to the ground on the other side, hands and chest first with his feet still up on the barricade. This is not Hawaii...
I had planned to skate at a nearby park on the day I arrived but ended up falling asleep on the couch all day. I was knackered from the flight. Turns out that was the only dry day Vancouver had seen in weeks and everyday since then it has been pouring. I'm not riding in the rain. I don't care what the Canadians say about it, I don't like it and I refuse. I have mostly been hanging out at the shop skating the death bowl and I have been visiting the Rayne factory to make sure everything is running smoothly... Or just stand in the way of people asking silly questions.
Headed to a Sikh temple last night for some free food. Every night there is a free vegetarian meal there. Only 30 or so people bother to rock up though and they are all skaters from around the city. No homeless people, no drug addicts, just 20 something year olds looking to save some coin. One of the Sikhs who is a white guy but still has the long beard and the turban on his head is known as ''the white Sikh''. He is a grumpy fella who yelled at us because we arrived half an hour early and kicked us out of the building. When you go up and get your food, you walk along in a line with a tray and there is a person on each different type of food and they just spoon it into your tray as you move along. The white Sikh was last, he had the sweet stuff meant to be eaten last. It was a sweet youghurty type stuff and some sweet honey covered whatsits. He didn't give a shit though, he would spoon up this stuff and hurl it onto your tray. Some would spill over the edge, the yoghuty stuff would go in your lentils and you would have whatsits in your rice or soup. I couldn't help but laugh when he did it, you can't complain because the food is free and they are feeding you and washing your dishes for nothing. The only thing you can do is laugh...
Dunno what my plans are, waiting out the weather and just lurking at the Rayne Factory seeing how things are done. Haven't taken any photos because I'm lazy.
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