"I'm not lending my stick to no Hodad..."

...you know what, for once, we'll let that rule slide. Respect to the tongue-in-meat-patty-filled-cheek marketing and a colossal burger.

Just how we like it.

www.hodadies.com

Bank Holiday Monday. Cloudwatch. 7am.

When I grow up I'm gonna be just like him.....

Mr Frosty

Ode to my Fridge.

Oh Fridge!

Rumbling chiller of my lovely beers

How I do anticipate your ozone smell

as I prize open the slightly broken door

and muse upon the growth in the corner

that possibly once was a vegetable

of sorts.

Reductionation

Can't stop and chat.

Man, you know I'd love to, but I really can't.

Far too busy you see, what with our...

70% OFF SALE!

Langston & Danielle

I'm feeling another poem today. It's that kind of day. So I'm bringing out my personal favourite. It fits with the way the Atlantic feels right now from the coast of North Cornwall. I took the shot below early this morning, knowing that a long way off in the distance, hundreds of miles, Hurricane Danielle is out there, rocking her thing and tearing it up.
The way I read it, this poem is about the anxieties of a still ocean. It questions the intentions of a serene sea. The timeless fear and excitement of the 'calm before the storm'. And, boy oh boy, I do love a storm...
Slightly disappointing then, for lovers of heavy weather, is that, actually, the weather is in the process of perking up for the bank holiday. But then that's all good too.

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water
To be so still that way.
Langston Hughes 1902-1967

It's always the way. You get a break in the crowds and decide to give some of the new incoming Winter Tech range a bit of an airing and try on.... and Big Billy Bluefin pops out of nowhere to scare the living fishfood out of you.

Ruddy rogue tuna. They get everywhere.

Bookish? We salute you.

Remember how, back at school, if you were a speccy 'reader' type, you could risk the wrath of ignorant bullies, being cast aside by the 'cool' crew and callously rebuffed by attractive members of the opposite sex?

Funny how things change.

Now cut to present day: Be sat there on the bench, reading one of the many jazzy new surf tomes that we're now stocking here in Gul Bude?

Now you rule. Now you're the bees and no-one can touch you.

No-one will call you 'Nermal' no more.

Blowy Bude...

Gosh it's blowy today here in Bude, big old gusts. Wafting customers in and out the shop like over excited children on a windy playground, that coupled with our big Tuesday delivery, today is really keeping us on our toes!

So no time for great long rambling blog entry's today I'm afraid, can't sit here all day........

No rest for the wicked.

Viva La Carnival!

As promised, I got a few shots of the Carnival as it passed by the front of the shop on Saturday evening. A damp evening did nothing to quell the palpable glee that kids experienced as the elaborate 'Disney' themed floats trundled past (some slightly more elaborate than others.)

Tourists, Hoodies, Grannys: everyone enjoyed using copper coins as missiles to try and dislodge angelic 5 year olds from moving vehicles.

Imagine my suprise, as I tapped my foot to the sounds of the local brass band strolling up Belle Vue, to see our very own Tom amongst them. Had he mugged an exisiting band member and stolen their outfit for kicks? NO. It turns out Tom is an accomplished player of the horn, and had managed to keep his Bude Town Band membership quiet, just like Batman, for all this time. Apparently he plays the 2nd B flat 'Cornet'. And there was me thinking that was a type of snail. Hats off to you Thomas, and blow away.

Matchsticks and Chocolate Cheese

It was the carnival last night here in Bude, people were partying hard till well into the early hours of this morning... I would like to use this as an excuse as to why I'm feeling so dog-tired, but alas I can't - I was frolicking elsewhere and am relying heavily on a couple of matchsticks to see me through the day!





This, coupled with Casey nursing a sore leg after dancing in heels all night, Abi being kept awake till the early hours by PlayStation antics at home and Tom narrowly escaping certain death after purchasing a chocolate milkshake that more resembled Chocolate Cheese, has resulted in us marvelling at how productive today has turned out.

Someone 'upstairs' remembered to turn on the big round yellow thing in the sky, they cranked the heater up and the smiles have returned to peoples faces as a result. I'm sure this is why the Autumn/Winter range has been going down a storm today, as has the on-going Gul 50% Sale.

I KNOW - imagine my surprise when I saw this actually exists!

Rach x

Look, it's just really heavy dew, that's all...

It's not been the dryest day Bude has seen this Summer. Having a river run past your shop is a little disconcerting, even at the best of times. Claps of thunder, sticky air... it's a proper Summer storm. Abi swears she saw a mouse float past in a small, paper boat. Just a little note to other mice that may be reading this blog and have delusions of marine grandeur: Paper is a truly silly material to construct an ocean-going vessel from. And also there's no cheese in the sea either. So, mouses, stop trying to be something you're obviously not cut out for.

I digress.

It's Carnival night tonight in Bude. OK, it's no Rio, but we're well up for lobbing some pennies at local eccentrics, despite all the rubbish weather. I'll try and get some shots.

And fear not friends and holiday-makers! The Sun/Summer returns tomorrow, and with it some light winds and a little bit of swell too. I'm up and out for a dawn patrol. You?

Celtic Musings

Summer Mornings By The Sea
by Eliezer Grinberg

With the break of the morning
the little houses on the hill surrender
to a rush of wakened foam
a sleepy lantern moves on a far corner.
But at daybreak -
when sun rays touch the greening planted rows
when wind gives wild chase,
and twists around the garden cuttings,
when doors and windows are lit up by sun,
a rooster starts to crow a song of praise:
doves begin to murmur,
a bird pecks among the branches,
a sparrow in his nest sings joyfully,
and all go out to seek food before they rest!

At the close shore of the sea
the first guests arrive:
hungry sand birds soon like couriers take flight
hungry sea gulls fly over fishermen and boats
returning home from fishing through the night -
silent with full mouths,
with smell of fish, sharp taste of salt,
with secret shine in eyes -
like blue transparent jewels
drawn from the threatening deep.

All in fearful mute agreement with the sea:
the sea will nourish them!
their only source of food:
The sea! The sea! The sea!

Keep the faith. Summer's still out there.

Check out the new range! Yeahh!

MMMMmmmmmm....... check. It's like a warm bath in honey.

The start of the Autumn/Winter range is finally released for public consumption... Yes, it does feel odd using the 'W' word this early on, in the middle of August no less. However, don't be deceived - to keep you cool on those steamy indian Summer days that will no doubt roll along soon, we have plenty of tees, vests and beautiful, beautiful checked shirts in this range, as sported by Tom above. We couldn't work out why he'd been in the changing room for so long. But we should have guessed. Check.

All you need do is come have a peruse. And a natter with us here. We love company, see. And don't forget to keep in mind that we still have a bumper Summer sale on - 50% Off many lines (and even more off a few others!)

The 2 Second T-shirt

Summer in a busy shop teaches you many virtuous things.
Humility.
Patience.
How to keep cool with no air-con (it's bad for the environment anyway...)
And yet - the most necessary and yet elusive skill in a busy surf shop, in peak season, stares you in the face everytime a horde of mildly feral kids have passed through the premises. Never underestimate the importance of keeping t-shirts perfectly folded, and fast.

We're in training here in Gul Bude.

Wax on.

Wax off.

The Final Countdown

It's nearly here...

The day you've all been waiting for...

Of course I'm not lying to you...

IT IS! Rest assured...

"What?" I hear you say...

The Gul Autumn Winter range is hung 'out back'!!!!

We have, for a whole week, been subjected to the excited jibberings of the dresses, skirts, shirts, trousers and hoodies as they have impatiently awaited their debut - you'll be amazed and astonished at what they have to offer, and they know this - hence their impatience.

We've even had to padlock the stock room door of late to prevent them making an early appearance - it's hard work baby sitting such impatient stock. So, to passify them, Emma gave a couple of items 'an outing'... just to give you a taster (and shut them up a little)!

The wait is nearly over! Hang on in there!

101 uses for a toilet door

1. Toilet door.

2. Surfboard.

3....

Chris gets stuck after number 2. Smarter people buy Gul wetsuits.

Leopallooza on the box

A little post-Leopallooza telly from mycornwall.tv (a little warning: it does contain a tiny bit of swearing hence why I posted this when everyone should be in church. See? Always thinking.)

Stuck

After a rather productive day busily dishing out Gul bargains left, right and centre I seem to be a little stuck with what to do for the blog today.

Then inspiration hit me full in the face, why not make the blog work for us?! So... as our avid readers, do you have any suggestions for these days where we are struck dumb? I will name them our blogless days!

Any clean and amusing thoughts you think deserve a place in Gul-Bude blog history feel free to email them to us and we can put them in stock to draw upon should this strange and eerie event ever happen to strike again. But if it did, I'm sure it wouldn't be as strange and eerie as what these holidaymakers saw whilst feeding the seagulls...

HoverCat - They are with us!

The Tangerine Dream

On my morning jaunt to the beach the other day, I happened upon this vee-hickle. There were 2 people asleep inside, and judging by the size of the quiver, I'd guess they'd drifted in from somewhere far out of town. Full respect to anyone who packs more fibre-glass than clothes, food, lawn chairs, windbreaks and waterproofs put together when they go on holiday. It's true that in the corners of car parks along this coast, the real deal lives on. Now if they just had a nice little Gul sticker on the rear bumper...

Andrew Wightman

Right. It's about time I told you about my friend Andrew Wightman. He's an artist, see, with a broad Scots accent and tufty whiskers. He, along with his lovely partner Rebecca, own and operate a beautifully antiquated and obviously loved ice-cream van, which is more often than not parked up at Duckpool beach. Look out for it, it's called Hokey Pokey. I can personally recommend the Passion Fruit Sorbet in a cone.
His art kind of made me sad. Not bad sad - happy sad, like, I find it sad that I can't just pick up a guitar and jam like Slash but I'm happy that Slash can. Sad that I can't pick up a 9'6" Takayama and surf like Joel Tudor and yet I love watching him surf. I want to surf like that.
I will never be able to pick up pens and create something like Andrew can (oh I've tried - it always ends up looking more like I've been doing a still-life of indescript roadkill.)
So hats off to you Andrew. Luckily for you my art stinks. Keep drawing please. C

Bude: There's something in the water...

Britains No.1 Under-18 Longboarder.

Sundowner Surf/Carve Magazine Special Champion Under-18 Longboarder.

3rd in Open Team Competition in Salinas with 2 fellow Gul team riders, James Parry and Matthew Travis.

2nd in the European Atlantic Watersports Under-18 Longboard.

The highest ranked British Junior Longboarder.

Our boy Lewis is doing very, very well...

The Damp Dog Days

It's my day off today. But it's so wet outside I've been forced to do several irregular things:
1. Re-visit my Tom & Jerry compilation DVD.
2. Tend to my long-suffering car.
3. Play the harmonica for 15 minutes with absolutely no care for any kind of tune.
4. Drink Tea like the plant was in danger of extinction.
I did attempt a walk at my local beach this morning. The Jeepster, my little sidekick, was less happy about this...

Summer's back tomorrow. Honest.

C

Nearly Forgot

I bet you'd thought we'd forgotten...

...not us

... as always!

We've been sooooooo busy with the Gul 50% Sale today we just postponed it.

Hot hot

This just doesn't do the weather in Bude today justice!?

It's flaming marvelous......

When you do get off the beach get in to GUL

Holy Mariachi!

Here's a little treat for you this Saturday morning as the hugely successful Gul Summer Sale continues in earnest (see the blog below.)
Granted, it's a little more disturbing than the last Mariachi El Bronx vid I put up. But that's why I chose Saturday morning to post it, while the kids are busy watching cartoons.

See? Always thinking, me.

The Gul Summer Sale begins...

SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE!

Our Grand Summer Sale is under way.

It's a 50% off many current Summer lines and up to 70% on other bits.

It's phat baby, phat.

And I don't even know what phat means.

Guess what film I'm watching tonight?

I'll be chewing a ciger for the entire journey to Barnstaple.

Guest Blog # 6

Guest blog today is one that's close to our heart. Not only have we at Gul held fashion shoots inside the lush Biomes of the Eden Project, we're also supporting their collaborative project in producing 'Eco-Boards', which you can custom order from any Gul store. And not just that - they even filmed a James Bond film here.
However...
Forgive my diatribe, but, asides from the fact that the truly astonishing world wonder that is the Eden Project was featured in 'Die Another Day', being somewhat of a Bond purist, can I just say that only two other things make that film a smidgen less than an absolute travesty:
1. It was set in Cornwall (As well as the Eden Project, Bond is seen surfing into and running up Harlyn beach.)
2. Halle Berry.
Asides from those couple of pride salvaging points, this film was truly wretched. Kite-Surfing through icebergs anyone? I quote another miffed Bond fan: "Die Another Day makes you long for the days when Roger Moore played 007. And who would ever admit to that?"
Ahem. Anyhoo...
The Eden Project is, quite simply, amazing. And if you haven't already paid it a visit, then that's perfect, as it gets nothing but better and better as time goes on.

www.edenproject.com/blog

Leopallooza - Last Post

3 days have passed since Leopallooza and already stories and good times are starting to fade from memory. That could just be my memory though - it's notoriously bad at the best of times.
Just taken delivery of some photos from our official photographer, so I thought I'd share a few good ones. Here you go:

...and a lot of you may recognise the happy looking chap below (the one with the beard, not the one holding the cup of wee.)

It's Rachel's Special Day!

Oooh yes it is....

She isn't 100 years old and doesn't smoke but if she was and did, she wouldn't look like this... probably? But she would be just as special...

We all wish you a very happy day.. X

A Jolly Weekend

I'm a bit tired today. The little festival I'm involved with (Leopallooza.com) went on over the weekend. But of course, being involved in such an event, it's not just the weekend - the days immediately prior to it consisted of very little (if any) sleep. And even after a great nights kip last night, I'm still in need of some pillow time. But it was also good fun, and I've got some good memories. Even better, some of these memories consist of Gul managers. Tee (Padstow) was having her very own party in front of the stage at one point and Amy (Newquay) barely made it out of the campsite and James (Truro) just looked downright merry. I'm pretty sure they all had a good time. I hope so.
Back to the shop now though and, luckily, my camera (which I couldn't find all weekend) had been left here all along. What was a little odd, and not a little disturbing in my vulnerable, tired state, was this picture which had appeared on my camera during the weekend...

Don't try and explain Tom. You'll just make it worse.