This is the one part of R.a.D Magazine which lives on as more than just a memory. It moved on line in 1994 and can still be found at www.knowhere.co.uk although the content is very different now.
I see from the introduction that we introduced a new rating system with this issue of the magazine. There’s a wistful tone to the observation that few people would expect to travel more than 10 or 20 miles to skate, and that no ditch could ever rate 5 stars. In the old days (the old days then) some of us used to travel from one end of the country to another in order skate something like Monk’s Ditch. Or, more to the point, to skate with other people at Monk’s Ditch.
What would the skaters of 1988 have made of the situation 20 years later? What would the skaters of 1980 have made of it? I think only the skaters of 1978 would have dared imagine a world of mini-parks all over the place and mega parks dotting the land. We got what we longed for. How does it feel?
John H responded on 04 Jan 2009 at 2:16 am #
I fanatically trawled through the Where guide of each magazine always looking for that new street spot nearby that we’d not skated yet. We once went searching for the Chingford ramp with nothing more than a 1-day bus pass.
Although we didn’t find the ramp, the day turned into a ’search for Animal Chin’ and we had a great day!!