8 Comments

1. 

   At 58 I was chasing my 6year old granddaughter on wet grass. Turned too fast, went arse over tit and, after 6months of codeine to try and cope with the pain, had to have an operation on my shoulder.
   So no skateboard but definitely an idiot.
   Thank God for the NHS.

2. 

   When I was a young teen, I got to try out a skateboard – unwisely, on a hill. It kept going (and I stayed on it, which is good I guess) until it hit the gravel at the bottom of the hill. I’ve never been all that interested in skateboarding since.

3. 

   No skateboarding tries but I did attempt doing a maneuver with a 4 wheeler going up a hill then sideways and back down. I stalled on the sideways part and somehow was able to jump off and avoid the now tumbling ATV. Never attempted again.

4. 

   Skateboards are one of those things that are best learned when the brain/muscle/coordination connections are still plastic. I learned to ice skate as pre-pubescent, and accordingly could learn to roller-blade as an adult. Skateboards came out after I’d been adultified (adulterated?) and they make no sense to my balance.

5. 

   @ zookeeper – “connections are still plastic”
   I have a cousin who is a good bit younger than me, who was able to do some reasonably impressive skateboard tricks. I stepped on his board just once, and discovered that my non-plastic connections were still brilliant enough to instantly recognize that I had better step off the board right away, otherwise I was going to have an impressive accident.(*)
   P.S. (*) – Something like the ones described by jjmcgaffey and/or Bill Watterson:

   

6. 

   My younger sister (the middle of the 3 of us) had one of the early commercial skateboards in the late 1960s. She loved it. I knew it was an injury waiting to happen – could not skate to begin with and I have never been that coordinated or balanced.

   Wonder if she found it when we cleaned out the family home last year.

7. 

   I friend of mine gave skateboarding a try at age 50. He told everyone “Now I know why it’s called asphalt.” (say it slowly)

8. 

   My block was resurfaced a few years ago, and we have *very* smooth asphalt. I love sitting on the porch when a skateboarder comes flying down the block. So graceful. Mostly.

   Never even tempted to try it myself. I’ve taken enough spills off my bike.

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