I knew Pete had to do some skating up at Creamfields for the last leg of the Right Guard vert series, and seeing as I'd managed to secure no tickets for Reading I decided to count myself in, it worked out that we went to Leeds festival anyway.

We planned to leave early and get a skate in at Rampworx. I was ready to go at 10am, Pete eveentually rolled round to pick me up at 1pm with some lame ass excuse about his car leaking fuel. The next 7 hours were spent stuck in traffic, boredom got so high we were reduced to playing hangman. Once inside Rampworx all was forgotten and we set about enjoying ourselves, also there to skate the new bowl were Pete Turvey, Dave Allen and Pete Dossett. I can honestly say I haven't had as much fun skating for ages, that bowl is so good, go there tomorrow. All too soon it was over and we got ejected. At the hotel we were greeted by more of the clan and settled down to a few drinks. Due to the way the rooms had been allocated I managed to get a bed, which was an unexpected bonus as I expected to be riding the floor all weekend.

I got woken up early in the morning by the sound of rain, never a good start to a day. After a bit of ritual Wingy abuse at the local supermarket we got on the bus to Creamfields. The day was pretty grey, but most people still seemed to have come semi clad and wearing the gayest/stupidest shit, I swear I nearly wet myself 5 times before I got in there. I can't be bothered to write too much about the skating, you've heard it all before. One thing I will say is that Jurgen Howarth is one of the most stylish skaters I've ever seen. In between the skating we went to the VIP bar were really really famous people like the cast of Holly oaks were hanging out. I did the front crawl round the dance floor before leaving, I think that's the first time I've done it sober. After the skating, the prizes were handed out, I think Renton won the days comp but Terrence won the overall series.

After a quick trip back to the hotel for supplies, a few shots of JD, and a wash we got back on the bus to Creamfields. Spirits were high, Dave did some in-transit stage diving and Little Nicky got so excited he sung Uptown Girl in a very high pitched voice. We headed straight to the VIP bar to meet up with everyone, and then on to see DJ Shadow. He was amazing, playing mostly stuff off the new album, some people were bummed he didn't play Organ Donor though, I wasn't bothered. We were all wasted by this stage, top ravers were Jurgen and Little Nicky (probably the only 14 year old in this over 18's event) but everyone seemed to be having a good go. Nicky was pulling the classic English 1992 rave moves while Jurgen was favouring a more modern Euro style, Renton was also pulling out some particularly frantic dancing which reminded me of a cracked up Cossack. After Shadow we hit up a few more tents and that's about all I remember. I woke up in bed at the hotel the next morning, no one I spoke to remembers me going back with them so I guess I got a cab back on my own. I have to thank Hattie at this point because she gave everyone a leaflet with the hotel address on it before we went out, I bet this saved a few lives. Tales from the others involved Ozzimal getting lucky and Wingy getting hawky.

It's a rarity for me, but I made it up in time for a good hotel breakfast, the best way to start a day. We rounded up the troops, said goodbye to the Euros who were all flying out of London later, and headed off to Leeds. Getting in to the festival proved to be the usual fiasco, but I eventually wangled my way in without too much trouble while the poor girl from Red Bull nearly gave herself a heart attack. The Leeds festival site was particularly hilly so Steve was probably really suffering on his crutches, this didn't stop him dragging me off to see Less Than Jake who were pretty good. On next were The Hives who are fucking hilari'ous, I reckon their lead singer could easily be a stand up comedian. Some great quotes were:

"I love you all, now kiss my ass"

"please me" (every time he expected people to cheer)

"Cheer if you want to hear our new song" ... applause ..... "ha ha ha we were going to play it anway"

"We'd like to thank all the other bands for supporting us, we are the main course, the bands before us were appetisers, the bands after us are dessert, we are the main course"

"This song is about a madman, I dedicate it to myself"

I got back to the ramp and tried to film some tricks with Pete but unfortunately Mike Edwardes slid out on the muck and ended up disloacating his shoulder, this put an end to the skating for the day and he was stretchered off. Our next form of entertainment was some kids who set out to annoy the security guards by whatever means they could, this included playing air guitar right in there faces and jumping in piles of rubbish sacks.

Back at the hotel we settled down for a meal followed by lots of booze. A story telling night ensued, first in the story chair was Mike (who'd only just got back from the hospital). Through much heckling he managed to tell his legendary story about the time he was kidnapped at knife point and froced to rob a shop, you have to hear it from his lips to do it justice. Next up was Jason Lunn who told a story that I can not begin to relay so I'll just tell you the beginning middle and end:-

Begginning: "Well this one time I'd just come from Bolivia to Goa"

Middle: "All I could think about was that I was going to fall asleep for Jesus' birthday"

End: "So I'm standing on the beach with some naked bloke who's hung like a horse handing me his Speedos."

No-one could match this, although Rentons story of his mate who crashed his car whilst getting sucked off by his girlfriend resulting in her breaking both her legs was pretty damn good. I sloped off to bed (well the bathroom floor to be exact), we'd booked a room between four of us which only had one single bed.

We got up the next day, I was walking around for about an hour before my brain was alert though, Pete seemed in more of a state so I offered to drive home. The journey home was quicker, and flew by due to watching the Ali G movie on Rentons lap top the whole way.

What more could you want from a weekend away?

Thanks: James for my Creamfields pass, Hattie for lifts and map to hotel, Renton for photos, Pete for driving (one way at least).

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