July 1st, 2017.

It was predicted to be a sunny weekend, perfect! Though that imagery was shattered when I woke up to a very dull, looking like it would rain at any moment kinda day. Ugh, so it was going to be one of those days was it?! I expected very few to venture out. I didn’t bother getting ready until later due to that fact. I estimated I would get into town for half one, then ended up being in for one instead. Gah! The bus card had failed (expired) as well, another annoyance to add to the ever rubbish day. I had also tweaked my knee as I ran to catch the bus as well. Which had deflated me even more. Seriously, was anything else going to go wrong today?!

Once at Crowne Plaza, I felt drained and bored. The guys were warming up, jumping the curbs and being ‘coached’ I use that term very lightly, by some drunk homeless guy that was loitering in the area. It was rather funny to watch him praise them and scary when he then tried a jump or two himself… Once everyone was accounted for, we moved to the next location the Adam’s Building over in the Lace Market. Femi was running late as ever, wanting to instead meet us in Sneinton later. People had broken off to go to different shops, even though there was a Sainsbury’s right next to the area! It was empty at the spot, I wasn’t even sure what to practice as of yet either.

 

Jack – Running Precision

 

Most people were practising kong precisions, the area had quite a few different ones of those too. Ranging from different heights and distances. The running upward precision (seen above) which Jack did on his first attempt was another movement I’ve always wanted to do in the past, but it has always felt so scary! That, along with the top slab moving slightly has always put me off trying. My heart was beating ten to the dozen thinking about doing it. I ran for it, half heartedly and kicked the wall near the top and felt I could crane or land it if I tried. Then I craned it pretty easily and then finally committed to the jump and got it. It seemed this was thee move to drill today, with us all lining up in a queue taking turns.

One after the other, each person seemed to nail it. It was very cool to see everyone breaking it one after the other. Then diving kongs were the next thing being practised. Another movement I really hated and didn’t practise, but always wanted to each time I saw people do it. I just felt I would bail or clip my knees from jumping for the wall. It was a push to be able to commit, and the fact Steff being a bigger guy had it was a great motivator. Even if he had a tasty bail in the process, where he clipped and fell over the wall. That didn’t stop him doing it though. Diving kongs are definitely something I need to practise more of. James was feeling a bit deflated with the kong precisions, after he had nailed them previously but today he seemed to have lost them when he wanted it on film.

 

Steff – Diving Kong.

 

I think out of the images so far today, James had the better album and more interesting set from Lace Market [1] as I really didn’t take many myself. It was then onwards into Sneinton, as we always did when we trained at the Adam’s Building. Training had stopped for myself, while Ben and Reece were doing a huge running precision gap together. There were so many precision based movements in the first area, that we always nearly collide. It was funny when Adam got the main precision near the gate because of Steff doing it. I was quite surprised to see Steff doing the kong precision there too. As it was still one I hated and found hard to do.

Bails, fails & Injuries.

 

Today was an early training session again, seeing as it was to be another adventure. What with the dark nights drawing in earlier each passing day, along with the icy coldness, it seemed worth the effort to be out early and make the most of the daylight hours. People needed to be out at the earlier time of half past eleven and everyone seemed okay with that oddly. Time will tell if it happens as planned though… There were a fair few out, judging from the event. Adam was a no for today due to being ‘busy’ and that was a shame. I will admit, I wasn’t expecting people to be out early and so I was amazed when I got to Crowne Plaza to find David, Steff and Tom already there, shortly followed by James, Geo and even Zain! We were all waiting on Ben (again) who seemed to be late for the last few sessions. It got closer to twelve and then finally, everyone was out. Kezza was a no show (as always) despite saying he would definitely be out weekend… The other maybes on the event weren’t out either.

James felt tired, as did a few people. It hurt to do movements, maybe due to the cold? People warmed up using the arch in the area, doing running precisions through it. While others later were doing diving kong precisions through it. It wasn’t long until we got the adventure day under way and moved over to the Adam’s Building (Lace Market) while on the way to Sneinton. It felt nice to have the low kong precision again this weekend, after it was so hard the last time I was there. It seems to be a cycle with it, what with the run up and curb too. It seems I’m not the only one having the same problems either, as David was finding it difficult too. Once I pointed out how I did it, to avoid the curb during the run for the kong, I think that helped him. Until he realized he was opposite footed to myself and changing his run up he found it easier to do. I also realised later while filming that where a hand rail had previous been, that I still held my hand up in the air to avoid hitting it, even though it is long gone.

 

David – 180 Precision.

 

The others were busy doing strides along the same walls, as well as box jumping them too. I started to film a few movements, collecting for a possible day video. Some of the B-Roll I collected was at points, quite worrying in regards to love affair of Gio and Ben! James broke an upwards precision, I would put it down to the pressure of me filming and trolling him. Perhaps he was worrying about how I might use the footage if he didn’t make it. Whatever the reasons behind the break, it was good to see him get it and led to a funny part within the video. Gio did an awesome kong precision to a railing (also seen in the video) which not only moved, but had a small landing area as well. David and myself looked at a 180 precision from a lamp post to a wall (seen in the above image) it was slightly diagonal as well. The angle looked great, even if the movement felt horrible. David was the closest to landing it, I kept putting one foot down and couldn’t commit to the wall. David was craning it at times and I got some nice photos to show for it. Maybe next time we can try and get it, when we haven’t thought so much about doing it.

Some local chavs were walking through the area and as they walked past they shouted the classic ‘do a backflip!’ line which we and anyone that trains has encountered a thousand times over… The plan was to go to the furthest point of Sneinton and then make our way back from there, rather than starting from the closest part which we seemed to spend hours at and then making our way further out. As you only have to come back afterwards, which was always tiring. I also wanted to check out this new location I had come across on Google Maps, a slight detour, but it looked like it had potential. I may have regretted that decision, with how long of a walk it was to get there seeing as we weren’t training at any locations before hand. The place was different to what was shown on Google Maps, all the railings and wheelchair access were no longer there. Annoying, but there were still things to use.

Portrait City.

The weather this weekend was unpredictable again. I wanted it to be good and yet it seemed like it wouldn’t be for the nearly second month in a row, this made me very sad. It had been so long since I had been out on a Saturday training and with it likely to be raining again, this weekend might be another washout, typically. I woke up at eight,  it was bright with the sun shining brightly, perfect weather for training! To my surprise it remained sunny as I got up and ready. I think the predicted rain had put many off as there didn’t seem to be too many out for the day and I would have been the same had I not woken up early. Adam was set on being out, James seemed to be iffy due to his adductor pull, which had been plaguing him on and off since the Jallenges [1] training session. Even Keaton was set to be out! As time went on, it seemed more people were coming out. I was waiting for Adam to pick me up, though seeing as he was running late I decided to get the bus instead as I was ready to go now.

I got to town just before one o’clock and found David at the Atrium jumping around on his lonesome, waiting for others to arrive. What was more crazy about today was when Jonathan arrived! He was actually out today, he said he might be, but I had heard that many times before without him actually making it out. He said he knew he was going to be out when speaking with me this morning, but wanted it to be a surprise. I can’t even remember the last time he was out to be honest, maybe back in January? Keaton arrived next, though he was wanting to do a spot of Urban exploration later on at the scaffolding field, for a new exploring video of his. What with the success of his most recent video [2] production, which even got featured on various sites and Notts TV too. It wasn’t that long now, until he was enrolled in the Army and wouldn’t be out at all, even though he had started to train more locally at the Parkour park and seemed to be enjoying it in recent months.

 

Jonathan – Portrait.

 

We trained at Crowne Plaza for a bit while waiting for others to arrive. My kong precisions were feeling utter rubbish again and my pulled shoulder and neck were affecting me. It was odd to see Keat scared of diving kongs now as he used to have them in the past. It was one of the movements he wanted to reclaim today if nothing else.  After some drills, he did get them back on all the walls, even the lowest one too. James arrived and started to warm up, along with Phil too. As time was getting on I was ready to move and anyone else who hadn’t made it, knew the drill and when they should have met! So any of those late comers would have to find us, time wasters! We moved into the Old Market Square, where Phil spent some time filming time-lapses of the council house while the rest of us watched and did a few movements as we waited, we had bumped and collected Jennings on the way too. I left Phil to it while a few of us headed off to the Lace Market.

I wanted to check out a church on the way which we had trained at long ago, only for it to be open and so it was a no go for today. We walked around to the side of it which had a small area to train on, but it had some junkies there, getting high. It seemed most places today were inaccessible annoyingly. We bumped into Zulu while making our way to the Adam’s Building, looking very dapper in his clothing and hopefully we shall see him again at the Parkour Park in the future, once Summer arrives.

Windmills & Commitments.

There was to be a big crowd training today with the weather set to be so warm, even some of the Trent University guys were meant to be joining us today, if they didn’t overlay. I had planted the notion in everyone’s mind for it to be an adventure day, the places of choice I had suggested were on the outskirts of Nottingham like Sneinton, Carlton, Lenton and Radford. With those in mind, we would make our decision on the day to which area we would venture upon. I ended up being in town before 1pm for a change. I felt like today was going to be a good day of training, it had to be and another reason I was out so early due to the excitement. Though it was proving not to be shared by others, who were arriving late and it felt like we wouldn’t be moving until later in the day at this rate. Some who were running late were worried about missing the day trip and asked for people to wait at Plaza for them. They knew the times though… If people cannot make it on time it’s not my fault. Much like Steve, who arrived later that evening at Plaza, even though we were at the time in the middle of Sneinton and had no way of letting him know where and how to get there… Not that there would have been much point by then either.

Plaza was soon filled with people arriving. Chris, Luke, Mat and a few others, slowly followed by Ant, John and Jason! Now there were some blasts from the past, to say the least. It’s mental to think how long it had been since either of them had been to a Npk training session. It was good to have David out attending again this weekend as he hasn’t seen many of the new areas we have discovered over the years. Phil arrived, along with Brandon and a few others, it didn’t seem like we were waiting for many more to arrive but we warmed up at Plaza nevertheless. No Femi today though, he had only just got up, knowing full well it was an adventure day and told everyone to hold up and he would be there soon… More like half past two or even three! That wasn’t going to happen, we could be waiting forever if he was running on black time. With people ready to move and restless, we made our slow walk over to Sneinton, stopping off at the Adams building first, in the lace market. An area where many usually end up chilling or become very unproductive when we gather there, at least from past experiences and I have no idea what causes that to happen.

 

Femi – Diving Kong

 

To say it was the start of the session, it felt more like the end of one. We had only just arrived and people had decided to go food shopping… I mean seriously?! I thought you were meant to have eaten before training, not arrive and then grab breakfast which adds to time wasting. I could understand if it was to grab some supplies before we ventured into Sneinton where there wasn’t shops nearby. The funniest part of the day had to be when Brandon was getting increasingly angry with Femi while on the phone, trying to explain where we were and how to get to us. Each direction and landmark Brandon used as a guide had Femi confused and no idea where he was on about. The frustration on his face was enough to tell how infuriated he was by the whole situation, laid on the floor, head in hands, groaning, unable to explain any simpler to Femi. After some back and forth speaking with Femi he eventually managed to find us and proclaimed as he arrived in the area why didn’t anyone tell me it was this spot in the first place?! As he only lived around the corner from it, and had ended up taking a long way around to get to it, face palm!

When everyone had finally finished their weekly shop, training was able to commence and people warmed up with their chosen movements. I captured some images of Femi and Holbrook doing strides to a diving kong. While capturing the said images, I got an interesting shot of Femi from underneath as he strode onto a wall. It made his leg look super long and stretched, like a cartoon character, the perspective was very strange and yet very awesome at the same time. Just as we were trying to make our way to Sneinton it seemed that people were more interested in training Adams, finding new things they wanted to try. So it was hard to get people to move and so the group slowly fazed out, one by one. Once on our way, we passed a side street which had things to do, only now it seemed everything was overgrown, that or people were in the way like the local drunkards. It was onwards to Byron Court, an old but gold spot for training, at first people seemed to be a bit uneasy, unsure what could be done, while others sprung into action.