Pigeons are my favourite animal ever. They’ve got a bad reputation and I dig that. This rep stems from the same breed of idiots that attribute notions of purity and peace to those butter-wouldn’t-melt bastard doves. Despite the dove and the pigeon being in the same family of birds, they are dismissed as a disease-riddled nuisance. Never to be put down by racial profiling, the pigeon is so bad-ass it just struts around cities where ever it pleases, eating up whatever we’re too lazy to put in a bin. The pigeon is an urban bird that quite obviously doesn’t give a fuck. And I love them.
So imagine my delight when Zoo York put out a board with a flock of up-to-no-good pigeons lurking on top of the tallest building in the sprawling menagerie that is New York. The caption reads ‘plotting doom from high upon the empire state building’ and that’s precisely what they’re up to. These birds belong in the same cage that houses the likes of Forrest Kirby, Zered Basset, Aaron Suski and other wood-pushers that are simply too gnarly to exist outside of some sort of enclosure. It’s only fair that my bros the pigeons get a pro board too.
The deck itself rides like a dream made straight from the concrete jungle. The very place that according to Alicia Keys has an assembly line specifically designed to pump out dreams as relentlessly as time passes. The only difference is that this dream is a solid piece of wood, but it did come from a similar assembly line. Zoo York regularly produce excellent planks to ride and this is no exception. It also happens to have the raddest graphic I’ve seen from them in some time. Hold tight Zoo York and hold tight pigeons.
Stanley
Skateboarders are skateboarders and pedestrians are pedestrians and never the twain shall meet. Now, for the benefit of the pedestrian’s ankles I would testify that this grossly re-contextualised Rudyard Kipling argument is probably for the best. But exclusivity outside of whose ankles your board is smashing into isn’t necessarily as cool as you’d like it to be.
There are certain things in life that we take for granted. Things that, if taken away from us, would gently sap the joy from our souls, the very part of you that you don’t always notice, but subconsciously makes you want to get up in the morning and fucking get some. I’m talking about the stuff we label as simple things, because they’re simply too overwhelming for us to understand. Like weights being lifted from your chest after just one sip of coffee, the chance of seeing a cat in the street, a good drum beat, the sound of a football commentator losing his shit when his country score and what I got up for this morning – the feeling of skating downhill with brand new wheels.
It’s no secret that
For those not in the know, Ralph Steadman is the genius behind every illustration that ever accompanied the Gonzo Journalism by heavyweight author, Hunter S. Thompson. The two of them go together like independent trucks and pool coping, a perfect match.
Cardiff-based 
The World Cup is on, England have been rubbish so far against Algeria and the USA and British people seem dubious about our chances of winning the World’s most wanted trophy.
Fluff legend
Changing seasons equals news gear and our recommendation for new shoes this week comes from 