I’ve just realised that the top pictures of Whizzer are a sequence. Apologies. I should have stitched the two pages together. Once again Egan is much in evidence.

It’s not like these were all people who normally skated together: different groups from different parts of Birmingham were all sessioning the same place on this rare day. The energy level was boosted to astonishing levels. The only draw-back was the trouble deciding where to go next.
The result was a sweeping arc through the underside of the Birmingham’s notorious inner-ring road. In case you’ve never been there (or heard about it: this place is famous in its awfulness), you should know that the middle of Birmingham is dominated by the motor car. Fly-overs and elevated dual carriageways rule. Pedestrians are supposed to scurry around in underpasses — do they, heck. Yep: there’s a whole underworld there for skaters. It looks grim: the concrete’s well past its sell-by date and everywhere is covered in a layer of dirt, but you can cruise from spot to spot with absolutely zero trouble.
What do you want? Steps? Freestanding curbs? Down-hill car park curbs? Tons of them, all over the place. The curb in the car park in Moor Street was the best. What went on there is the kind of stuff you’ll only see in videos. Still pictures don’t do it justice. That rad, that fast, and that stylish — the use of curbs is an art in which Birmingham’s skaters are particularly well versed.