Carving Nostalgia

On the weekend I set foot in one of the best surf shops that I have experienced in an awful long time, in this country at least. The shop is Trans Surf , in Mawgan Porth, which is just up the coast from Newquay in Cornwall.  I happened to be in the area for the weekend and while exploring I came across the shop.  Being in the market for a new suit, boots etc for winter I thought I would look inside.  Not that I actually need much persuasion, when it comes to surf shops my resistance is pretty much non existent, so I would have ventured in anyway. But I am so glad that I did. It became immediately apparent that Trans Surf is one of a rare breed. To begin with, as soon as I set foot inside the door it struck me as being a 100% real, genuine, authentic surf shop, one with sand on the floor and everything! It is within sight of the beach and the Atlantic beyond and above all else it had a friendly vibe.  The lady working gave me such a s...

With it fast approaching mid September it is safe to say that Summer is pretty much over. But it's been a good one, weather wise at least, could have done with more surf, but you can't have it all, plus any waves would have been absolutely mobbed by the hoards that descend on Cornwall during the Summer. I have mixed emotions about the passing of Summer, for on the one hand the temperature is dropping, the days are shortening and while it is sunny at the moment, the rain and wind is probably just around the corner.  That said, there is something comforting about the transition from Summer into Autumn, which is probably instinctive and related to the notion of preparing for Winter.  Plus the tourists have pretty much all departed, that alone is something to be thankful for. Also, the Autumn swells should beginning to hit us any time now, beyond that there should be surf throughout the Winter months.  This year I am going to make the most of it.  For ...

Well it seems that today we have been given a brief respite from the relentless storms that we have been enduring for too many weeks now.  Looking at the weather forecasts it is going to be a very short period of calm, before the next round of violence comes our way. Looking at the countless posts on Facebook and alike, pictures and footage of storm waves and the subsequent destruction, it really does seem that I am one of the few people who are well and truly fed up with this pattern of weather.  Since the end of October, the 27th to be precise, there has been a preoccupation with the next storm.  People everywhere have been surmising and speculating about how bad it's going to be, the size of the swell, the strength of the wind.  Many seem to be getting a real kick out of seeing the beaches being destroyed, sand washed out, dunes and cliffs washed out.  The greater the perceived damage, the more excited people seem to get.  The hunger for these images s...