Photo by Bruce Walker

I thought it would be cool to find out what kids (and grownups too) do to have fun in the Summer.

What got me started was my young garden helper, Riyazz.

Every day, after we finished work, he would go to his car and get our this extremely long and rather fancy skateboard, and proceed to whip around whatever quiet street we happened to be on. He said it was really relaxing and exhilarating at the same time, and made him forget his aching body.

I asked him if he went to the skateboarding zone which has been set up at our City Hall in Mississauga. He look shocked and said "No, this is a LONG-BOARD". I must have had a very blank expression on, because he began to explain that Longboards are different from Skateboards in length and the way the are built, how the wheels are positioned under the board.

Photos by Louise Peacock
He said that Long-boarding involves speed and distance rather than using ramps and obstacles, so the City Hall location was no good for Long-boards.

After I talked to him I watched a few videos of people using Long-boards, some of them roaring down incredible hills at breakneck speeds, for very long distances. It looked pretty challenging and also frightening as heck!.

It turns out that Riyazz had only been Long-boarding for a week, but was pretty excited about it. He was learning fast he said.

It seemed like an excellent opportunity to practice my film making skills and do a short video of him using the board and telling a bit about it. so one fine day at the end of August, when we were done work, we got set up outside on the sidewalk, got some lighting help from Bruce Walker who was shooting some stills, and went ahead with an interview and video.

It all worked out well, and we were very pleased with the results.   If you would like to see the short video, here it is

Footnote:

Sadly, two days after we completed the shoot, Riyazz took a very nasty tumble while Long-boarding and broke both wrists. It was just before Frosh week and he was pretty irritated at being immobilized at such a time, especially since he had not been going fast at all when the accident happened. Lesson learned, he said "don't stick your hands out in front of you to break the fall".  (My Judo instructor would disagree with that!)