There is no time better for skateboarders than Christmas. No, I haven’t been visited by 3 ghosts during the night and woken up completely off my nut and obsessed with the holidays. I’m being absolutely serious. Christmas is the one time of year that no one is hanging around at street spots, and if any security guards show up, more often than not they really can’t be bothered to kick you off. As I said, it’s the best.
If you can manage to get away from the family for even an hour – Christmas is the best time to hit the streets. Everyone is too busy munching on turkey and watching naff movies, so if you have a dream spot that is always a bust, shoot your shot and try and get that trick you always dreamed of.
If you manage to get the crew out for a skate, you can bet the session will be rad. The cold forces you to just keep cruising and hitting spots up, so those people who always just turn up to smoke a joint and barely skate will be up and busting tricks to fight off the feeling of freezing their toes off. Ti’s the season, after all… The season to SHRED.
Even the most aggro of security guards will not believe that a group of skateboarders have descended on their well guarded territory to pop ollies down a few steps. Anyone who gives you beef can usually be reasoned with (“C’mon mate it’s Christmas!”) and, any that can’t, can probably be bribed with money or, if you can manage it, a beer. “T’IS THE SEASON FOR TINNIES, MATE.”
You probably think this is utter bullshit. You probably think there is no magic Christmas shred. Well, if you don’t wanna try that day, why not try New Year’s Day? The earlier in the day, the better. People are so hungover and tired that nobody would dare remove you from a street spot. Why would they? Most of them are so weirded out that you aren’t as hungover and tired as them that they think you are insane.
If you don’t believe a word I am saying, I am begging you to try it yourself. Tell Nan to hold the roasties for an hour whilst you pop out for a shred. I know it works, because I have done it. It’s golden. Many years ago, I headed out for a Christmas skate with a few mates. We went up to Warwick Uni – a place notorious for getting the boot.
I could write a whole essay about how shit Warwick Uni are, and how their security guards are a bunch of hopped up rent-a-cops with an aggro problem. That’s for another time though. All you need to know is that their security guards are dicks and skateboarders rile them up to no end, causing them to be super unreasonable, and in some instances, violent.
Warwick Uni is the Fort Knox of Coventry Skateboarding. If you get any tricks there, you are probably qualified to rob the Crown Jewels. So naturally, we headed up there to skate the place on Christmas day. The students had all gone home, the shops on campus were all closed, everything was just dead. Conditions were perfect for skateboarding.
Obviously we didn’t trust this silence. We tentatively set up at some of the less volatile spots on campus and got a few clips. Things seemed to be going so well, we headed into the center of the campus and started trying to get clips on some stair sets around the Arts Centre.
I was filming blog co-founder Rosko, as he tried a line down a double set of steps, when out of nowhere this chap in a pair of slippers and a Warwick Uni security uniform waltzed up, with his hands in his pockets. He kinda just watched for about 30 seconds whilst we continued skating. Eventually he tried to claim some kind of control.
“Hey, you can’t do that here” He said. His words, whilst instructional, were lacking any form of authority. He clearly didn’t care. Instantly we knew we could bargain with him. “Aww, C’mon, it’s Christmas!” Rosko said. “There’s no one around. We’re not disturbing anyone!” I said. The security guard mulled this over, trying to find a reason why we should leave.
“What if you get hurt? I’ll get in trouble.” He pleaded. Rosko completely shrugged it off: “Nah, we’ll just go to the hospital if that happens.”. This chap looked utterly defeated. Clearly he had pulled the short straw, and had been dumped with the Christmas shift, so he couldn’t be bothered to argue.
“OK… Don’t get hurt, and don’t damage anything.”. YES! Skate session on! A real Christmas miracle: a Warwick Uni security guard absolutely caving to the poorest logic, and just letting us skate the whole campus. It was a rad session, and probably the only time I have got away with skating that place for longer than 30 minutes.
So, that is conclusive proof that my Christmas skate session advice is legit. Go skate on Christmas, spread cheer through slappy grinds, gaps and hill bombs. Get rad, then go home and gobble down a roast dinner. Merry Christmas from The Terrible Company!
The Terrible Company 
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