This rules. Not really work safe though, so watch out.

Today I experienced first hand the American-English language barrier that you really think wouldn’t - shouldn’t - exist, but does. I haven’t really figured it out, but it seems it doesn’t just happen to me as other English people on this side of the pond invariably experience it at some point or another.

Usually you can just muddle through, sometimes if you pronounce what it is you’re trying to say a little more slowly or with a bit of effort the person you’re speaking to catches on and the conversation continues, hopefully with the outcome you were looking for.

Sometimes though, like today, confusion just arises and you’re left feeling stupid. All I wanted to do was buy stamps from a gas station (er, petrol station). The key word here is ’stamps’. Could this woman fathom what I meant? Not a chance. “Do you sell stamps?”. Is there any ambiguity in that sentence? I didn’t think so, but she looked at me as if I was speaking a totally alien language. I tried again, and then of course I made the fatal mistake of attempting to explain what a stamp is for - “You know, stamps, to put on my letters so I can get them posted?”. Total ‘buffer overflow’ - she just shook her head and looked at me like I was crazy. Fortunately some bloke who was next in line said to her “I think he’s after stamps”, to which she replied “We don’t sell them!”. I just paid for my Gatorade and left muttering “thanks anyway”.

I think the problem is that people tend to listen to the accent and not the actual words that are being spoken. They recognise these words, but as they’re being said a little differently they just don’t seem to sink in or register. I’m also of the opinion that routine in such a mundane job causes peoples brains to shut down, and if anything happens during the day which deviates from the standard set of routines that they usually experience then instead of applying some small amount of common sense they basically just shut down and back away from the situation.

Eventually I purchased the stamps from a liquor store and sent the letters on their way. Don’t get too excited though - it wasn’t anything from me personally (such as postcards or whatever), just bills and stuff I promised my housemate I’d mail for him.

One of the things I really wanted to do out here in San Diego was to ride stuff that you’d probably never ever see in the UK, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of the past weekend doing just that.

Saturday was probably the longest day of riding I’ve done in a while. I rode over to my friend Craig’s house in Ocean Beach and met up with Chris (Hardy) and Mike Grosse. The plan was to head out to North County and session a pool, then ride some fullpipes that were nearby, and then head to Real Ride skatepark for the evening session.

We made it to the pool for about 1pm, with a few skaters and some riders (including Ryan Fudger and Gary Young) already there riding around. It was seriously impressive watching certain people ride that, Gary especially had the most speed and lines just carving all over that thing. It was my first time riding anything like that so I just nibbled about and tried to get used to how the thing flowed, as it’s a weird experience coming from riding ramp all the time where you basically just carve in one direction and head more or less straight up and down.
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I’m sitting here washing back the taste of my sub from EZ-J’s with a bottle of Corona and figured I’d better update this thing and let you know what’s been going on here over the past few days :)

Halloween was fun - have to love an occassion where the guys dress up wearing the dumbest looking outfits possible and the majority of girls strive to wear the sexiest, most outrageous clothes they can :) I went to about three parties in total, and ended up at the same apartment complex I was at on Halloween last year which was kinda weird as it almost felt like the last year hadn’t happened. I’m sure alcohol helped with that illusion though….
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