The London Friday Night Skate#

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:46:50 +0000

I note that I keep saying "LFNS" and haven't yet expanded the acronym. Tonight is the last skate of the year (we kick off again on 6th January), which prompts me to say a few words about it. From the forthcoming web site

The London Friday Night Skate is a ten to fifteen mile street skate around London, every Friday (hence the name). We do a different route every week - one week we might take in famous central London roads and sights, another week we'll head for some long fast downhills in Camden or Putney, or even a trip to the countryside out at Barnes. The roads are blocked as the skate passes by our expertly co-ordinated volunteer marshals (on skates), and we even have our own portable sound system on a bicycle

The LFNS is not a protest! We're nothing to do with any political organisation, we're not environmental protesters, and we're not Critical Mass. We're faster than Critical Mass.

Well, the bit about the sound system is not strictly accurate right now: for the moment we have a loan of a sound system on a bicycle from the LondonSkate, which is the other major marshalled street skate in London (they do Wednesdays, we do Fridays & Sundays). And we only go to Barnes in summer when there's enough daylight to get there and back: those country roads are dark.

It was through doing the Friday Night Skate (or more accurately, through going to the pub with everyone after doing the Friday Night Skate) that I first started meeting people in the skating community. After a while I started marshalling, then I started planning and leading routes, then I was elected to the Marshal's Committee, then ... - it really has been a slippery slope.