Tears, Bails and Tiredness.

 

After more bad weather in recent weeks, this weekend seemed like it was going to be a good one, with the weather prediction and the attendees. I was excited to be out again and wanted to adventure as well! Sadly, we wouldn’t be seeing Adam this weekend, as he was away (whipped) seeing his girlfriend. James wasn’t out this weekend either, instead opting to go to the cinema! Part timer… Coming along to a training session late one week and then not being out the next weekend, even though he is a ‘committed’ community practitioner. As well as being out ‘all’ the time, in all elements, his words not mine… I know I’ll get stick for saying that!

At first, it seemed like not many would be present after all but in the end we ended up with nine people out. I had made a point to adventure within the event, which likely enticed more people out who were unsure. Stating the plan of action and the areas we would visit, so others knew the route if they needed to find us. Once I arrived at Plaza, a little after twelve I found that hardly anyone was out, why so lazy? Where were they all… Steff was going to be late again, but at least he let me know. People slowly trickled in, up until one. It was good to see Nico out this weekend as well, nailing the kong precisions at Plaza none the less.

 

Gio – Dive Kong.

 

Sean arrived just after we got moved off from Plaza and we instead trained across the road at the Atrium while we waited for the stragglers to arrive. There was some human excrement on the floor, the size of a cow pat, stinking the area out. I really wasn’t feeling training, I felt sluggish and heavy, my shoulder had pulled while warming up too. Zain needed to hurry up as well, he said he would be out today! We trained beside IBM on the giant industrial skip seen in the above image. With Reece nearly destroying his ankle while slipping off the wall on a downward precision. I should mention Gio doing a downwards diving and double kong (seen above) on the walls there was complete madness too!

Then into IBM area itself. Steff, Luke and Ryan arrived just as we were leaving! Good job as well, because we could have been anywhere. Josh had knocked off one of the loose slabs just as we were leaving too. Many of them are now becoming loose or wobble, so it was inevitable that at some point one would tip over, more so for people unaware of the loose ones. We bumped into Zain as we headed up to Mansion Studios for a stint of jumps. Drilling pop lazy and side vaults, precisions and other tic tac based movements. Along with getting Sean to do some of the precision jumps at higher points on the walls which at first he was afraid of.

 

Reece – Sideflip.

 

While we were doing some awkward, diagonal stride precisions and then into a catleap. Ben had managed to destroyed some plastic guttering as he grabbed it for a cat, after overshooting the jump. That didn’t leave the rest of us hopeful in using it for a cats 180 back to the wall. Small victories with the linking of movements for the precisions though. Luke had put himself out of action when he did a gainer off the wall, nearly landing into the giant glass window of the building below as he landed in the stones below, stumbling and kicking them to the window! He had landed on his heel and now found it hard to walk or move around. Every time he is out, he gets injured within the first hour and then is done for the day!

Jubilee Campus Adventure.

It was predicted to be a sunny and even humid weekend, after the prelude of soaring temperatures during the week. Finally the weather seemed like it was going to bloom with warmer days from here on in, were we getting an early Summer?! Sadly, James wasn’t going to be out this weekend due to being away for his birthday surprise in Brighton of all places. I say this as he would maybe get a cheeky Parkour session down there at a gym or see the Storror guys out and about, which would be cool to have on his Birthday. This weekend may be my last, if my daughter is born on her due date as well. So I had to make the most of it and squeeze a good session in.

Knowing that James was away, and not to sound like a terrible human being, but usually you can guarantee the weather would be top notch. If past events are anything to go by. On a second note, with it being predicted to be good weather. Many wanted to venture to fresher pastures. So it was to be an adventure day, unintentionally with James being away. The plan was to go to the Jubilee Campus, after seeing it featured in a local Parkour video [1] and checking it out via Google Maps too. It would be a break from the norm city centre session and a good adventure for the ones out for it.

 

Yaz – 180 Catleap

 

I don’t know how or why I had missed that as an area to train at for all these years! After all, I had visited Lenton [2] and on other occasions the QMC area [3] [4] which was just a little further up the road. I think with it being the old Raleigh complex and it being brought by the University of Nottingham in the 2000s we hadn’t really ventured there, not to mention it was almost hidden unless you had been through there. I remember Zain mentioning it and that it few things there years ago. Either way, it looked better than I had imagined and it had everyone excited about visiting the location now…

I woke up at six, then eight and finally got up just before ten. Twelve seemed so far away yet. That was the time I wanted to meet up this week, due to others being so lax arriving often at one, two and beyond. If we did the same today, we wouldn’t be making the adventure until gone past two o’clock! I was wondering who would turn up, it seemed like quite a few were up for the session, but would have to see once I arrived. One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to wait for people that were late! So it was a nice change to arrive at Plaza right on time, as the clock tower chimed.

 

Adam – Running Precision.

 

The only people left to arrive were Tom and Reece, who had already informed us they were nearly there. I didn’t mind that as a wait, it wasn’t long before they arrived and then we all decided to take the long walk to the Jubilee campus. It took around fifteen minutes to get there, quicker than expected and with a pit stop at a Sainsbury’s on the way for supplies too. As with most University’s there likely wouldn’t have a shop for miles. The first spot we came to had lots of cuboids to jump between. The water feature was currently off and drained, providing kong precisions to the cubes too.

Bulwell Round Trip.

 

Today we were going to start at a slightly earlier time of 12pm. I didn’t train on Saturday due to it being Goose Fair [1] and because of that fair being in Nottingham for a few days, the traffic is always bad. At least for me getting to and from town as it passes where the fair is located. Then you have transport being busier than normal, more so in the evening and slow traffic due to blocked off roads as well. That and not many practitioners seemed to be out this weekend, judging from the event anyway. James was away, Pete was AWOL (as always) and Eddie must be a combination of banned, whipped or both as we are seeing less of him these days. Benj was unavailable as he was now working weekends and others didn’t seem that bothered about being out. I had hoped with Saturday’s lack of attendance, that more would be more open for a Sunday instead. It turned out that wasn’t the case, which was slightly demotivating.

I was up early as I always seem to be of late. I had a look on the event to see who was coming out and it was now down to only three, THREE people were game for the adventure!? Ugh, all motivation had been drained from me now. Adam had been up late and so would be out later in the day. I suppose, at least he was coming out and had Dom and Andy coming along with him, which would increase the numbers somewhat. David and Chris were out, but Femi was running on his usual black time and wanted to meet at the park for 12.30pm which meant he wouldn’t get there until at least half one at the earliest. He called me menstrual when I said we wouldn’t be waiting for him and he should adhere to the set time, which is there for a reason, so we don’t have to wait for people or have to direct them where to go, when they have no idea where they are going anyway!

 

Chris – Layout.

 

He said, cut him some slack as he had only just finished work at 3am! That and he had to do some shopping first before they closed at four and then he could think about training. He had been up since the same time I was (nine) and so had more than enough time to get his shopping in and still meet up at the set time, with plenty left over!? I got to the park to find Chris and his sister Jodie already jumping around and waiting. David arrived a short while after and then we headed off into Bulwell for some jumping. While warming up I felt so heavy while doing a small kong precision. Perhaps I just wasn’t warmed up fully enough yet or wasn’t feeling the day due to being demotivated. The starting image of the day for photos was of Chris doing a back layout (seen above) off a small wall.

It was a strange old day weather wise, the sun was shining with clear blue skies in parts, but then it was dark and gloomy in others, as if it would lash it down with rain any second. The running precision I was practising with David always looked big on images even though while doing the movement, it’s quite small. I was filming some movements for a new RAW video [2] from the day. There was an upward standing precision, which felt very similar to the upward park precision. It had some branches in the way, so had to be careful not to poke your eyes out and land crouched too. David didn’t like it and couldn’t see it, yet Chris did it which surprised me. Gio who had not long arrived decided to do it the other way (seen below) as a kong precision instead…

 

Gio – Kong Precision.

 

As if that wasn’t good enough, he was then looking at the k2p from the railing (road side) to the same wall on the left! Adam, Andrew and Dom had arrived, earlier than expected too. It was down to the other part of the subway we had previously visited when in Bulwell [3] doing the same movements from last time. There seemed to be more to do this time round, with lots of filming, photos and portraits. There were some nice runs being done by Gio and Femi, doing diving and double kong.

Bumps, Bruises & Back Flips.

 

I had planned to go out early Wednesday with David,  so we could train at Highfields after he missed the previous Saturday jam we had there. I wanted to train there again too, still having movements to conquer. The weather all week had been ever changing day by day, which made it next too impossible to predict if it was worth going out until the day of. I had mentioned to Ben about the session and he seemed up for it, Femi too IF he turned up that is! James was a maybe, what with current work commitments… My next challenge was getting up on time, I was currently going to bed any where from 10pm – 2am and not getting up until gone 11am. A far cry from the 6am work days, the holidays were killing my routine.

I decided on Tuesday evening to go ahead with this training session, there was no predicted rain through the day. Femi was now a no for being out, due to a work interview at 6pm and didn’t see the point in travelling afar. I went to bed early to compensate for all the late nights, but struggled to sleep, it felt too warm. I ended up waking up at 5am, then again at 8am and decided to get up not long after. I abused James via PM, asking if the old man had even woke up yet and will he be joining us today?! Telling him to come out regardless, though I doubted he would be out, with it being a midweek session. Likely he wouldn’t be up until we were already out and jumping. Though I did have a small hope to see him later on, just maybe it would happen. I wasn’t holding my breath though…

 

David – Catleap.

 

I got ready for training, feeling tired and now in a rush. I had been too relaxed from being up early and hadn’t gotten ready in due course. The curse of having too much time, thinking I would be fine, then it seemed time had sped up, each time I checked. Tom was out today, a random and unexpected practitioner to add to the cause. The others who were meant to be out were very quiet and not online yet, which usually meant they wouldn’t be out. I arrived in town close to half ten, all accounted for we got the bus to Highfields, which took next to no time at all. It seemed the university was open and that might be a problem if we were jumping around the campus. There were a few people kicking around, early Pokémon hunting it seemed, with one guy dressed as a Pokémon trainer!

It was on to warming up and with that, the bigger jumps. The main catleap in the area (seen above) one I could see, but never seemed to like, it always felt like I might not make it. It was within rage, but I didn’t like the fall down onto the steps if you didn’t commit. David was doing it easily, then Tom did it too! That was it, I had to do it now too. I could now see the jump, but I still felt uneasy about it. As I jumped for it, it was like David and Tom said, closer than you think. Which I equally found out when I stubbed my toe into the wall.