Compromising for Authority

Shane, Will, Greg and Decky are standing by the red brick wall. I heave my bag onto my shoulder and walk towards them. I see a guy wearing a blue jacket. City Centre Ambassador. I approach the group and see Shane nodding. I figure the city centre ambassador must be asking them to move on. I always move on when people ask me to. I make it a rule to move on without any hesitation.

Lately I've been realising that for some people being respectful doesn't earn you their respect. The ambassador asks if we have nothing better to do. I have to respect this guy because he's wearing a blue jacket. I wonder why he can't be professional and deal with people without being patronising. I try to explain that parkour goes deeper than what it appears to be. He sees us as a group of people jumping around for no reason. He asks me how old I am. I tell him I'm Twenty Four. He scoffs in an offhand manner. I'm making every effort to show respect. I try to explain the philosophy of parkour to him. We're going around in circles.

I explain the philosophy in the best way I know how. I try to explain the ways in which we train. He lets my words enter his head but he doesn’t process them. He keeps nodding. He seems to want to lead me into saying that I've got nothing better to do and that's why I'm doing parkour. He tells me he doesn’t smoke and drink. Does he want me to praise him? I don't smoke or drink either. He wants me to say that I have a sad life. I maintain my level of respect but I'm finding it really hard. He hears what I'm saying but he isn’t willing to listen to any of what I'm trying to communicate. I come to the conclusion that I can never hope for this man to understand parkour. He doesn’t want to know. He focuses on his preconceptions and in my opinion is very closed minded. I sigh and walk away. There's no talking to some people.

Sheffield Parkour Training Video Diary Week Seven And Eight

No Swimming

This is the quiet contentment after the make-up period. It's the moment of silence when you're watching that deciding penalty shot. I'm walking. I can hear people around me but there words are just whispers in the wind. I can handle anything right now. I feel like I'm experiencing a moment of Zen. As I walk I take baby steps. I stare at the floor but I'm not focusing on anything. I chuckle to myself, imagining Sebastian rolling through the air.

The bridge that goes over the canal has metal girders underneath. Sebastian grabs hold of the girder and makes his way along. He's nearly half way over the canal. Ben and I watch with eager anticipation. Will he make it?

'He looks like he's doing well' I say. Ben nods.
'Watch out for your hands Sebastian' shouts Ben. Seb moves his hands to avoid a patch of dirt. He stops for a moment. He grabs the girder with his feet. He's moving slowly along using his hands and feet. He looses grip with his hands. He tries to stay on with his feet but it's too late. His head falls towards the water and his feet come away from the girder. He lands with the grace of a dead kipper being thrown into a bath tub. I bend over with laughter. Ben and I laugh manically as Sebastian climbs out at the other side.

Ben grabs the girder and shimmies along. Sebastian walks up and I start laughing again. He shows me his bloody hand. So that's why he fell. Ben reaches the other side. Sebastian and I cheer and clap.
'I better go get some jabs man, come on let's get a move on.' Ben and I chuckle as we walk away from the canal. Sebastian doesn’t find it funny.

We Need To Look Like Hardcore Mother Fuckers

I can hear a female voice. I look up and see a speaker. I rotate my ankles. The voice says
‘The police have been called and you are on CCTV cameras for identity purposes. Please vacate the area.' I look around in shock.
'I think that's our cue lads' I shout. Everyone moves for their bags.

People are making jokes because I'm taking my time to warm up. I grin. I stand on one leg for a balancing exercise. Paul grabs his camera and tells us to take our shirts off. I look at him, bewildered. The rain is pouring down.
'We need to look like hardcore mother fuckers’ says Paul. I burst out laughing.
'That's going to be my blog entry Paul,' he looks at me.
'What hardcore motherfuckers?' I'm grinning.
'Yeah.'

Paul and I do the exercise side by side. Jack films us as we climb up onto a brick wall then back down again. We repeat the process several times. It’s challenging to grip the wall with sodden hands. I keep slipping down. My shoulder muscles are killing now.

Jack, Paul and I walk on all fours. Little Danny walks around us, filming the exercise. There is a guy from Stoke here in Manchester today. He approaches me and asks what we are doing.
'Quadra pedal walking' I tell him. He tries to say it but gets tongue tied. I'm like 'Well a four legged animal is called a quadruped, so walking on all fours is called Quadra pedal walking.' He nods.
'Ah right, I never knew that.'

We crawl along a pathway on all fours. We travel about fifty yards then turn around. We have to do this at least eight times. We're on the fifth stretch. Jack gives up. He tells us we're down to three men. I see a trail of blood and Dean cries out
'Ah!'
'What's up mate, have you got cramp?' I ask.
'No I've cut my hand.' Now we are down to two men. I race to catch up with Paul. My whole body aches but I have to push on. Come on! Give it some! I crawl backwards towards him. We reach the end of the course and stand up. My eyes feel like they're popping out. I can feel all the blood rushing to my head. Paul asks me how it felt. I tell him it was hard but I could have done more.

My first bit of Parkour. It's a wall run. I run up and kick one foot on the wall. I try to grab the top but miss it by inches. I try again and get to the same place. Right, I need to think this through. If I aim a foot above my target I should get higher. I breathe in, squint my eyes and focus. I run to the wall. I kick the wall hard and fly upwards. I grab the top of the wall with two hands and climb over fast. I can hear people clapping behind me.
'It wasn’t physical. It was all in the mind' I tell people. 'I think I'll be able to do it every time now with the same mindset.' I run at the wall and grip the top. I do the wall run eight times in a row. What a great feeling.

The rain pours like someone turned the ocean upside down and siphoned it through a giant sieve. We stand in the doorway of an office building to take shelter from the rain. Our numbers are going down by the minute. We walk into a local shopping centre. There's a free running video being shown. The general opinion is a negative one. We know our stuff. There's more break dancing and tricking in the video than actual Parkour. Little Danny does a headstand down the escalators. A few people stop to cheer and clap.

I've been walking in the wrong fucking direction. I hurry my steps. I need to get to the coach station within the next hour. I ask for directions. I tall guy tells me where I need to go. I see the coach station and sigh with relief.

I rendezvous with Greg, Little Danny, Shane and Will. We do a little Parkour outside the coach station to pass time. Greg and I stand on a curb and fight to see who can stay on. He beats me every time.
'He's really good at this' I say to Shane and Little Danny as Greg pushes Will off balance.

Little Danny and Shane are throwing bits of paper into someone’s mouth. They laugh as he snores. He doesn’t wake up. I'm texting Angel. I can't wait to see her. It's time to get back to reality now. I have things to do back in Sheffield. First stop will be Mum's place to feed her cats. Then I’ll head home to sort out my flat. It's been wetter than a Caribbean blizzard today but I have really enjoyed myself. It has been a productive training session. I lean back in my seat and kick my shoes off. I'll remember this day.

Progressing

I'm staring at the black concrete. Just feel the obstacle. There's a relationship between you and the jump. You feel your way. It's like you're blind. As you become acquainted with the obstacle you gain sight. I breathe in silently. I throw my arms up and expand my legs violently. I'm looking at my landing point. My feet touch down on the concrete. I expand my legs. I steady my balance.
'Fuckin ell' says Alex, his eyes widen and his mouth opens slightly.

I tap my thumb onto the keypad on my mobile phone. As time passes and things change you grow more beautiful and sexy to me every time we meet. I love you more everyday and I cherish you for being such a great person. I press send. She'll love that.

I feel strong. I can feel stability in my lower body. I feel like I'd be hard to knock over. I know things can only get better and I will become stronger. I walk with my chest out. I look to my right. There's a guy staring at me. I don't mind.

I'm walking briskly towards my flat. I feel great. I feel like I can deal with anything that comes my way. I need to be a positive thinker and take the appropriate actions in order to achieve my goals. Life is good.

Sheffield Parkour Training Video Diary Six

Sheffield Parkour Training Video Diary Five

Healing Wounds

I hold out the parcel and she looks at it. She takes hold of the present.
'What's this?' Her eyes light up.
'Open it and find out' I say. She smiles.
'What have I told you about doing this?' I'm grinning as she unties the knots and takes the string off. She rips the red wrapping paper. 'Oh this is like pass the parcel isn't it.' She rips the white under paper off. She turns the flowery cardboard box in her hands. 'It's lovely,' she opens the box and her eyebrows rise. 'This is great.' She opens the colourful notebook and reads the first page. 'What is it?'
'There's a reason why I love you for everyday of the year,' she gasps as she flicks through the book. She looks at me.
'This must have taken you hours,' I nod. We order a drink from the waiter. He brings us our drinks and two menus.

You know me too well' she tells me, placing the second gift down on the table. 'My love of candles,'
'And your favourite colour' I add. 'Pink.' She's nodding,
'Shall we light it now?' She jokes,
'Yeah, bring your own wine and candles,' we both laugh.

I'm sipping my beer. Angel's like
'You ought to stay away from me,' I look at her and screw up my brow. What does she mean?
'What makes you say that?'
'Well you're on your second pint now, I might get you drunk,' I wouldn't mind. As long as I can spend time with her I don’t care.

I'm glaring around me. We walk past an off license. There's a girl in a white T-shirt crying in the shop doorway. Everyone's got the same T-shirts on. I look in front of me. There's another student in a white T-shirt throwing up outside Tescos. I scowl at the noise coming from a bar across the road.
'Are you alright?' I try to smile.
'Yeah, apart from being surrounded by parasites, I'm fine'
'I hate students,' damn I feel pissed. I feel angry too.
'I hate being around this, it makes me want to chin somebody' I admit, my fist clenching as I look around me.
'Can I watch?' Angel asks in jest.

I'm staring straight ahead as the bus hurtles round a corner. I feel so vexed. I can't stop staring. Shit. I've ruined it. What's the fucking point? I might as well go home. Angel looks at my face. I stare straight ahead. I feel like I've got tunnel vision. The bus comes to a halt. Angel walks to the front of the bus and I follow her. I'm walking with my eyes to the floor. All that fucking effort for nothing. I feel really angry and upset. I wish I hadn’t had those pints. I don’t usually drink. Now this lager's making me feel aggressive and I can’t concentrate.

I open the bathroom door and it hits the wind chimes. I take my shirt and trousers off and pull a plastic bag out of my rucksack. I lift a pair of green combat trousers from the bag, then a green T-shirt and some dog tags. Come on now man, make an effort. Think positive. You can still turn this around. It’s not too late. I walk into the room and Angel looks me up and down. So far so good.
'Look I really need to get something off my chest, if you want this relationship to work you have to accept the fact that I don't drink.'
'And you have to accept the fact that I do' she replies.
'Oh yeah, do what you like, most people do.' I walk into the kitchen and drop a big heap of coffee into a mug. I carry it into the living room. My head's clearing up now. I can think straight again. Great. I can do this.

'Look, I wanted to say this to you in the bar but my head was just messed up, I understand where I’ve been going wrong and I know I can fix things,' she frowns. What if this doesn’t go well? I tell her I know I’ve made mistakes. She tells me that I don’t express my emotions enough. I agree. I don’t express my emotions enough. She tells me she hates having to wait for me to finish my kung fu before we can talk and spend time together. She tells me that she would like it if I made an effort to see her friends. I tell her that she's right. I know she is right. I feel like crying. I can clearly see all the mistakes I've been making. I really feel like we're communicating well. It's great that she can tell me what's on her mind. I'm telling her that I’d like to fix things.

'I want to support you in every aspect of your life, I love you' I say. I smile.
'Well I really want things to work' she explains, 'I can see that you're more mature already.'
'Move your legs then, are you going to let me in?' She moves her legs from my lap and I lean in and take her in my arms. We hug and we kiss. For the first time in a week I feel complete. I feel like crying. I know we're making progress now. Angel's flatmate Matt walks into the flat. We chat about cars and Angel's pet fish. I look him in the eye. I know I've been stupid. I hope it's not too late to show people the real me. Matt walks into his bedroom. Angel downloads music on her laptop. I sip my Chinese tea.

Angel turns the main light off and lies down on her bed. She looks so beautiful. I kiss her on the lips and take my shirt off. I let the dog tags hang onto Angel's ear. I move my body and drag the dog tags from her ear, over her lips and down past her neck. She pulls me onto her. We kiss.

'Angel there's a bat is in your fish tank. Look at him. He looks so at home. Wouldn’t it be nice if the rats could play in the fish tank? Maybe they could have their own little rock to climb onto after swimming.' I smile at the bat as it swims around in the fish tank. The fish tank hums. I laugh at the bat. My laugh echoes around me. The beeping sound of my alarm makes me sit up and open my eyes. I stare around me. I press snooze. I look to my left and see Angel sleeping. She always looks so perfect. I lean over and kiss her on the lips. I adjust my pillow and hold her close to me.