LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE TM
& SUNDAY STROLL TM

From: Week on Wheels <wow /at/ lfns.co.uk>
Subject: [wow] Week on Wheels: it's a Wrap (a wrapping wrabbit)
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:22:08 +0100

This Week, on Wheels

* This week: I remember when it was all fields around here
* Last week: EVERYTHING
   Long Good Friday Night Skate
   Saturday in the Park
   Sunday Bunny Stroll + Party + Prizes
   Monday: the Skating Summer Silly Season Start
* What next? IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY!


== THIS WEEK : NORMAL SERVICE HAS BEEN RESUMED ==

Proudly going where no skate has gone before (if you discount the
AllyPally One-way...) the LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE goes to Highbury
Corner, with a stop on the famous Highbury Fields as featured in the
Beatles song (the title had to be changed due to Copyright
issues). The 2nd half has its share of downhills, including a run
straight down City Road - don't miss it!

                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20070413

The SUNDAY STROLL follows its big brother, the LFNS, on its way
towards Highbury Fields, but wisely decides to head off once it
reaches Camden. So we have a chance to wave to all the shoppers in
Camden High St, just before we stop near Camden, uh Fields, and Camden
Road station. Be there or be a rectangular thing...

                            http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20070415


== EASTER ROUNDUP: EGGSEUNT OMNES ==

On FRIDAY NIGHT we had a LONG SKATE and it was GOOD.

"The next section will be a bit faster ... I can see the marshals
   looking at me in disbelief. If you were struggling on that last bit
   - oh, and if you're not a marshal - you might want to get the Tube
   here."                      - the LM, at the second stop

"That was a monstrous skate. I'm feeling properly broken this
   morning.. aching in places that I didn't even know I had. Brilliant
   mix, too"                   - serpentineroad comment

"Awesome fun!!! Haven't done a FNS since last year" - ibid

In a one-time-only return to the routes designed in days of yore, we
had three speeds on this skate: the first hour at Sunday Stroll pace,
before returning to Hyde Park Corner for a Red Bull pitstop and a
collection of people that don't read web sites, then the second and
third sections were the usual LFNS fare. We skated past all the sights
between Hyde Park and Tower Hill, in a blessed absence of traffic that
meant we could run and run and run and ...

If only it could be like that every week.


SATURDAY afternoon saw the free drop-in classes doing brisk business.
Four of the London ICP skate schools had 100-120 pupils choosing
between introductory and improver skills for street skating,
introduction to slalom and intensive stopping skills. Many thanks to
the skate schools and the UK ICP coordinator Mark, but especially to
instructors Jason and Jonathan from Skatefresh, Lee from SkatesCool
and Simon from Inline School. Photos forthcoming.

http://www.skatefresh.com/                http://www.skatescool.com/
http://www.inlineschool.co.uk/             http://www.skateinstructor.com/


"Thanks for the hockey session. The 8 of us that turned up are meeting
up again next weekend ..." - Will

Skaters turned up to the Albert Memorial at 2pm to brandish sticks at
each other. If you're tempted, contact one of the participants via
the serpentineroad.com forum. Many thanks to Lucia for hosting the
session, and to Tom and David for lending the equipment.

               http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24076


LONDON SKATE PATROL were out on Saturday teaching six new patrollers
how to teach, and again on Sunday and Monday - the first of their
regular Sunday and Bank Holiday free clinics during the summer.

Two of the new team put their skills into practice during Monday's
Treasure Hunt. You don't need to be an amazing skater, or hold an ICP
instructor qualification, because they'll take you through the basic
teaching skills. Contact them for details of their next training
session.

                http://www.skatepatrol.co.uk/pages/join-the-patrol.php


Freestylers Phil and JB from the LONDONSKATERS FREESTYLE CLUB hosted a
dropin workshop at The Beach on Serpentine Road. Although this session
concentrated on slalom, the LSFC also practice dance, slides and
jumps, and they tell us their sessions apply to all levels of skater.

                                 http://www.londonfreestyle.org/news.php


The SUNDAY BUNNY STROLL, highlight of our weekend. Imagine a sea of
pink and white furry ears bobbing in the sunlight. Or if you were
there, just remember what it looked like.

In other people's words -

"It's only 11am, but there's a queue for costumes!"

"That was brilliant, thank you so much to all the organisers, you put
so much hard work into it."

"Darling I'm going to be late, the road is blocked by hundreds of
rabbits!"

"...had a really good laugh. Weather was perfect, will definitely go
next yr"

"Thanks to all btw, for a great day - was my first London street
skate and I really enjoyed it."

"We just had an announcement about you skaters in bunny outfits on
our bus radio causing chaos again i see! ha ha ha" - a bus driver

"Lead Bunny to Carrot" - Natasha radioing the scout

"Bkeeerrrrrrrrrrrkkkk!"

There were so many highlights to the day. Most notable was the sheer
number of Indiana Bunnies (we lost count at around 350, but rabbits
are not a highly numerate species) that left Hyde Park at the start of
the skate before Jesus Jonesing it up Park Lane, Chas and Daving on
down to Piccadilly and sticking a Deckchair where the sun doesn't
shine somewhere near Covent Garden. Tourists and Police alike looked
on amazed at Horseguards Parade as the caped crusaders of Chicken Man
and his trusty side kick Cock Rog caused a stir with their costumed
antics.

The view of a sea of bunny ears as we Jackson Fived it up the Mall
towards Buckingham Palace was only tempered by the realisation that
the Stroll was finally coming to an end, but not before we Wallace and
Grommitted up Constitution Hill for the final Walk on Sunshine back to
the Park.

We have had so much feedback saying how much people enjoyed it. So
did we...


                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdIsaheIawQ
                      http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/easterskate07/

The best dressed skater competition was sponsored by Club Blue Room,
judged by audience vote, and won by some of London's best-known
skating extroverts.

Little Laura won the best dressed child prize and received £75 in
vouchers - which she promptly spent on a pair of Heely's *sigh*. For
the adults, it was a tough 4-way contest between Sol, Roger, Marty and
Magali, but the loudest shouts went to Big Bird (formerly known as
Marty), who won £100 in vouchers. Many thanks to everyone who dressed
up and made the atmosphere very special. Thanks to Howard for the
fantastic photo.

         http://www.flickr.com/photos/magichow/452485472/in/photostream/

Congratulations to Alan, who won £200 of Prolineskates vouchers in the
RAFFLE. Altogether we gave away £475 in vouchers, t-shirts, wheels
and bearings (thanks Ed!), dinner for 2 (with wine) at The Vic, a
bottle of champagne and a Skate Faster course with LondonSkaters Mike
van Erp. The winners of this prize coyly gave it back to be redrawn,
but we've heard they're currently fighting for repossession. Anything
for the secret advantage at Le Mans, eh?

If you won something and were given one of our Easterskate
certificates, contact us to arrange collection of your prize. We're
still trying to track a few people down, so see the thread on
Serpentine Road for more details.

            http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24168
                                  http://www.lfns.co.uk/feedback.php

And then there was the AFTERPARTY! Not sure if The Victoria, the
skater's favourite local, were expecting hundreds of sweaty bunnies,
but we certainly took to our new warren, scrambling around outside,
inside, and up and down the stairs. Many, many thanks to The Vic for
hosting us and to Stevie B for his excellent DJing, you had us hopping
around for many happy hours.


MONDAY was the occasion of the SkatePatrol Treasure Hunt around Hyde
Park and Kensington Gardens for under 16s. The event kicked off
promptly (for skaters) at 2:15pm, and it was great to see all the
children race off (with adults struggling to keep up) round the park.
The three age groups had different distances to cover, between 3 and 7
miles, and had to answer a variety of questions set within the park's
boundary. Do you know what time the last post is in the mailbox
outside the Rangers Lodge? They all do, with some of the participants
completing the maximum 7 miles in a comparable time to that of a
Sunday Stroll.

All the winners received a £50 voucher from Club Room with everyone
(including the adults) getting Chocolate Eggs courtesy of the LFNS
team.

Also on MONDAY, the EGG AND SPOON RACE. Which you might have seen
already, now it's been on BBC TV News - we had texts from as far
afield as Birmingham and Iceland. Full story will be on the
BunnyBlog, but we hear that participants had to slalom around cones
with their egg and assemble the Kinder toy inside it. The lure of the
chocolate was so strong, some even wanted to go around twice ...

                                     http://easterskate.blogspot.com/
                                                http://qurl.com/dh9nf


== AND FOR OUR NEXT TRICK ? ==

Watch me pull a rabbit out of ... no, wait. No more rabbits.
promise. Next month we're celebrating the SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
LFNS. It's changed a bit since the early days: originally set up by
skate school Citiskate, passed over to a non-profit association of
volunteers as it grew, it's been through multiple sound systems,
several web sites, and more marshals than your editor can count. And
we reckon we could now do the first route twice over on a Friday and
still be back before the pubs close. But in some ways it's very much
the same animal as ever - we've always tried to retain its edginess
and uphold its reputation as one of the fastest and most fun
marshalled skates in Europe, and of course the whole skate still
depends on its marshals just as much as it has since day one. LFNS
marshals past, present and future - nice work, guys!

So we'll be marking the occasion with three miles for each year: on MAY
4TH, look forward to the long-awaited CIRCLE LINE SKATE. It's had
more delays than Crossrail, but we're planning 18 miles, three
sections, and a view of every station on London's favourite "cut &
cover" line. And if you want to dress up, wear yellow (but not
hi-viz, unless you want to be mistaken for a marshal and pushed in
front of a bus).

Your music requests, suggestions, comments and congratulations all
welcome. Except for any messages mentioning bunnies, which we will
reject without paws for consideration.


== THAT'S ALL, FOLKS ==

Enough of our rabbiting on. Don't forget there's only seven days
until the Londonskate (Wednesday nights) kicks off again, though.
They've been training all winter, apparently, but they don't specify
what *kind* of training ...

                                           http://www.londonskate.com

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