Colin went to Sweden and all I got was this picture of a bunch of smelly dudes in a car instead of their famous bikini team I keep hearing about. That’s the Swedish Bikini team, not the Bacon Bikini team. (Shudder!) But seriously folks… I’m going to beat that joke like a dead horse. He actually did take pictures. The occasion for the road plane trip was the Bowl Rider’s Cup in Malmo. He said something about “epic,” so give him some time to assemble his thoughts and do some typing.

Yeah it’s a tired Clash reference, but at least I didn’t title it London Calling. Our Czech ex-pat Marek Litinski went back to the fatherland (motherland?) for a week and got stuck in London for an extra week becasue his “papers weren’t in order,” or so he claims to his wife… While he was there he happened on the Quiksilver Bowlriders contest in Cantelowes, a Dreamland park that we posted about earlier. Some of the eurpean skate sites have video from that contest up. Now Marek supposedly finished 4th, but must have done somehting to piss off the locals because every time he comes on camera the cut to a different guy. I begged Marek to bring a camera with him so we could get a little European skate coverage that wasn’t hand me down, and he obliged. When I spoke to him on his return, he said the thing that made the biggest impression on him was the fact that adults were allowed to openly drink beer in the presence of minors without the Aumsville Police U.K. equivalent of the National Guard being called out. Ironically, he was also present when Lodoners had near riot conditions during an all…

Dean Tyrell writes: A friend of mine who was patricpating in a Skate contest here in Palma (Spain) last weekend, broke a finger in practice. He went to hospital, got it fixed up in a plaster cast and came back halfway through his heat, (loaded on painkillers hence carefree expression in the foto) and still competed, probabaly with a semi-wet cast. Nice air too. Andres Moral. A very hot skater around these parts.   the foto says it all; the cast, the smile and the air… skateboarding. See the whole shot after the jump. Update: Photo by Albert Crespi

Well, I guess not. Here are two recent submissions from opposite ends of the earth and age spectrum. The youngster on the left (Jay Holmstrom) hails from Sweden, while the oldster on the right (Wrex Cook) was shot in Arizona by Old Man Army.

This broken skateboard belt buckle comes from a Polish website called Jazgot which looks like it’s aimed at the Polish Hot Topic crowd, or in their own words, “Punk Rock Rockabilly Emo shop” [Source: SKATEpunk.pl]

Again, from the collection of John Drummond. This time it’s the premier issue of Germany’s Death Zone, dating back to June of 1985. It cost 1,50 dm, however much that was. Interesting to note the address inside the cover, it said Gütersloh West Germany. I never really thought about about skateboarding in a divided Germany. Sure, we all knew about Claus Grabke (…and speaking of) but seeing the word “West” made me sit back and take notice.

The minor crisis in journalistic integrity is over. The person who sent me the photos had not meant to imply that they were his own, which was why he couldn’t provide any additional information. I did find the original source, which was a link on NCDSA.com from a Swede named Toby: It’s an old timber trench/ditch that isn’t used today. All you need is a broom to clean it out in the spring and you’re good to go. It’s about 450 yards long and made out of metal. If you ever are in Umeå, Sweden, mail me and we’ll take you there! Toby has two photos and videos of the ditch/pipe mixed in amongst three pages in an incredibly slow gallery. They are more atmosphere shots than gnarly skateboard action. Same goes for the video. Looks like a really fun spot. Photos 1 – Photos 2 – Videos.

A skate buddy of mine from a different life (Bob Mechtly) sent me these pictures of this old metal timber pipe/ditch in Sweden that isn’t being used today. He said it’s about 450 yards long. What he didn’t say, was how it rode and what he was doing there. Dang. Looks like Michigan. Was this a timber waterslide? Good luck wading through the internet trying to find that information. It seems like a track would have made more sense than pumping water, unless they were able to divert a natural water source. But then the downstream… oh right. This is a skateboarding web site and not the Bureau of Land Management. Looks like a lot of fun. Rarely do we see something skateable that is so long… Enlargements after the jump. UPDATE: There was a little bit of a mix up. These Aren’t Bob’s photos, I’m tracking down the originals.

What are the Poles up to? About the same thing as skaters everywhere. As part of our ongoing cultural exchange we bring you a link to Poland’s System Skateboard Magazine. I wish it had a more Polish sounding name. It’s got some high quality skate photography but in some areas it’s not quite as slick as the majors. For example, there are surely some talented skaters featured, but drawing from more limited pool means there is the occasional shot that seems out of place in such glossy production. There are plenty of American companies tainting advertising, which might seem odd were it not for the fact that the parent company of System is the sole Polish distributor of some of those brands. I tried to get them to bite on Cold War since there is one graphic that combines elements lifted straight from the Polish Air Force, as well as Solidarity party. The suggestion was politely ignored, but hey, it’s hard for me to turn down a fellow Pole. When I was in Warsaw in 1991 or ’92 I didn’t see a single skateboard there, but I found a flyer for what I think was a Polish skate rock band.…

This week’s Shot of the Week is comes from Rok Konecnik in Slovenia, home of about 1/4 of my ancestors, where they like to stand around on miniramps with stuffed birds of prey, which is exactly why my grandmother’s family was forced to leave under cover of darkness. Hey! I am Rok, 26 year old skater from slovenia (” Where the fuck is that?” Ask Marek Llitinsky…..) I was wondering if you could do me a favor and give me Marek’s email adress. I am planning a solo mission to Oregon and I guess he could give me some pointers. We are both from the eastern front:)our scene here is blablablabla, so its my dream to go there and make my fucking dreams come true. At least my dreams are possible, imagine if I whished a Ferrari. So there you have it. And he sent me a strange picture to prove he wasn’t a “wannabe” – not that I cared. Normally I wouldn’t post shots of backflip flyout dismounts, but in this case I’ll make an exception in the interest of promoting cultural exchanges. Check it out.