London, England … I’m here visiting friends from University. The bus stops, I rise from my seat, walk down the aisle and as I exit the hot stuffy interior I’m hit by a wall of dry, musty air. Stepping onto the pavement, I look around, behind me are bright neon signs and movie boards flashing in the twilight. In front is a road, jam
packed with cars and people, steam and smoke. I can see a tube station sign, at least I know I’m in the right place.
Everyone is rushing, on a mission going nowhere quickly. I shut my eyes, I can hear music, engines and hundreds of people speaking a myriad of different languages. I breath in, the air catches in my throat, I can smell Chinese food and KFC and something else … popcorn, I think. I open my eyes and the scene has changed, there is now a large group of Japanese tourists blocking the pavement, most have their phones in hand, some have selfie sticks, they are all together and all in their own little bubble, all at the same time. It’s so busy, so hot, so many people, so little space.
I start to walk, it feels like a scene from Blade Runner. Looking up, a neon sign flashes and the bright blue Samsung advert is replaced by an idyllic image of an empty, tropical sandy beach; there is not a cloud in the sky and small perfectly formed waves are breaking on the shoreline – I pause for a while taking it in, its such a contrast to what’s going on around me. I start to walk again. So many people, so much noise, bright lights, cars everywhere, but still sitting there in the back of my mind is the image of the beach and the blue sky and the waves and I think of Guy …
Wardour Street 8PM. I dial the number. I don’t expect an answer, but …
- Hello
- Hi, its Lucia
- No way, how’s it going?
- Great! I’m in London, thought I’d give you a call. What you up too?
- All cool. What are you doing in the old smoke?
- I’m sat in a bar in the west-end drinking a mojito at the moment, but I’m here visiting friends.
We chatted for about for 5 minutes and then I asked the same question I always ask … “tell me about work” and Guy was his usual evasive self, so I changed the subject.
- What else have you been up to, have you been away much?
- Ah jeez, we’ve had such a wicked time. We went back to Ireland in January and it pumped. We surfed this slab one morning there was no wind, not a drop of water out of place, 4-5ft, roll-in take off and then as you got to the bottom of the wave it just opened up and peeled perfectly into the channel, so sick, we had it to ourselves for three and a half hours. The next day we got up, put our suits on, surfed a left point break for two hours, got out, kept the suits on, drove to a right point, surfed that for 4 hours, got out as it was getting dark, then we went straight to the pub and sat in front of the fire, eating pies and drinking Guiness. Is that the perfect day or what !!!
- Haha, you really love it there…
- Yea I do! And then we went to Sri Lanka again. It was so cool, waves every day from the day we got there. We spent the first night in a place called Welligama. It’s not renowned for having epic surf. I got up early walked down the path to the beach, I could hear waves and then through the palm trees all I could see was lines stacked up and just unloading right and left. I was like whaaaat!!! I ran back, got my board and surfed until I was so dehydrated my head felt like a peanut … and that was the theme for the whole trip everywhere we went, surf all day, Lion Beer and seafood in the evening.
- Sounds awesome
- It’s such a cool place. I’ve mainly been at home for the last couple of months. Well, I’ve been in London a bit working and I did a tournament in Portugal and we went to Holland but I haven’t been on any trips. The waves have been pumping, it’s been super cold but the waves have pumped, I’m ready for Summer now though.
We talked for a while longer, time flew by with Guy excitedly bouncing from one subject to another always ending up going back to talking about what he loves the most, travelling and surfing. Right now, I bet that if he’s not working he’s cruising around somewhere; spreading good vibes, surfing and having a good time.
Lucia