Chewed in Bude II ... it's just the begining

I have to say, Tom has been acting really strange all day, ever since he got here this morning!? Spent ages moaning about the homeless and how he felt under the weather... smelling really bad... spent ages in the toilet making funny noises?! Dragging his heels (literally) about doing any real work... scaring customers.

Come to think of it... Thats pretty much Tom on any given day so nothings changed there then.

Until his ARM FELL OFF!!!


This was the last photo I could get of him before he shuffled off up the street!

In this photo Zombie Tom wears LUMBERJACK LS SHIRT and HARRIS PREMIUM DENIM

Happy Halloween.. Em XX

Chewed in Bude

We've been noticing a lot of degenerate types hanging around Bude in the run up to this Halloween weekend and upon arriving at the shop this morning what do I find? One of them half asleep in the door way amongst a pile of bin bags and boxes moaning away.

I gave the pungent fellow a little wakey shakey (nice and polite "move on old chap").... AND THE CHEEKY SOD BIT ME!!! ACTUALLY BIT ME!

I'm OK don't worry I gave him a stern telling of I can tell you. He just shuffled of moaning something about having no brains or something?... talk about adding insult to injury!

Anyway I better be off now... feeling a bit queasy and dizzy.....?

Mean Time

It's that bewildering and confusing time of year again.. when the clocks go back and our heads go dizzy. But lighter mornings which is never a bad thing. I walk upon a cliff top each and every dawn, so you can see the obvious advantages there. It does however mean that the chances of a quick surf after work are now minimal... C

The Coming Of Winter

As sad as it is to see Summer fall away, as we recall it's better moments and stare wistfully into frigid grey skies, wishing they were blue and warm once more, and as the melancholy takes hold with the acute comprehension that another long Winter is in the offing, there is still something about the onset of this season that gets my juices flowing. Last night is a good example. I was stood out in the garden, itself not long past flourishing but now insipid with the first frosts and the exhaustive rain. I was splitting wood for the fire (an old, Swedish-forged woodburner with ornate figures of Moose and hunters cast on the sides. I'm not quite sure what they're all up to but it looks like it's all going to end badly for the Moose) when the heavy winds began to blow. Whilst the dog barked at thin air, I stood and stared up at the trees for a while. These same trees had been losing leaves steadily for the last month or so, most choosing to fall down into my garden rather than the field that's perhaps 60 times the size of my little plot which lies to the other side of their bulky trunks and boughs. Watching the last copper tinged, dry leaves hang on to the branches against the thickening gusts was kind of sad, in a way. Perhaps its the neighbourhood in which I live, Wrecker Country, that brought to mind the image of doomed sailors tending perilous rigging in a rabid storm, holding on as a hurricane seeks to pick them off.
I drove down to the sea in the fading light and contemplated the torrid surf from this latest, heavy low pressure system as it tore into North Cornwall. It wasn't cold: just on the edge of cold, like cold was waiting, under-dressed, in the wings.
Love or hate this time of year - drawn out, beset by storms and cold surf, waiting patiently for the snows if we're lucky and the first shy glimpse of Spring - it's something I think I've learnt to appreciate after avoiding it for so long. It's when I celebrate the luxury of a warm indoors and a nice cup of tea. And, of course, a good quality winter wetsuit and this shirt in particular. It's become my Winter armour. C

Mentawais Tsunami

I've never been to the Mentawais. In fact, I've never been close. I've flown high over the top a few times. I've had a very hairy landing at Bali airport, but that's about as close as I've ever been. I did once spend 2 months stuck on a beach in Sri Lanka... Far flung from the Mentawais and I'd imagine a different experience but one with some familiarities, I'd wager. Clothes that cling with the tiresome humidity, surf beyond any quality I'd ever come across, a closer sun that glares down from space and up from the clear waters, searing eyes and bleaching matted hair. I've not had the lucky experince of a surf boat trip, but my friend Lee has, out in the Mentawais, and it sounded pretty cool.

As with all other tropic-travelling surfers seeing the tsunami disaster on our TV screens, unfolding once again on palm fringed beaches, I'm sure it's a little more real than it perhaps would be to a non-surfing joe. So a friend made me aware of this link to donate to the cause. Felt right, as a surf shop, to post this up. Just click on the graphic below. C

Roughtor Range

Contrary to the post below, I'm not a fan of X Factor, but good work to Tom and most importantly Guy from Gul Falmouth who set the Wagner challenge...
Just to remind everyone, it's still 3 for 2 on all our Autumn/Winter range - this includes our new 'Roughtor' outdoor tech wear. Hi spec, low wallet impact... just what you need for those pre-Christmas gale force wanders.

The Shield Ripstop Jacket

The Thermopack Down Jacket

And here's a shot of myself, product testing the Roughtor Shield Ripstop up on the very place it's named after...

X wagner

Cai's been going on and on and on about X Factor of late....

Wagner is his favourite, we personaly think its the similar taste in clothes, facial hair and neck attire they share that "swings" the fiery Brazilian into his "hot list" of acts on the show? Or stranger still Cai's last name is Waggett! Almost identical to Wagner I'm sure you'll agree!?

Even when I try and get him on to the subject of Danni Minogue, confusingly he won't have it, he only has eyes for Wags?!

T

Spooky Guts

...and a big thankyou to Tom's Missus, Ali, who brought us in these seasonal and tasty sweet meringue treats that were duly gobbled.

Tom reckons he's eaten the equivalent of 10 eggs today. Be happy you don't live in Tom's tummy. C

Oddballs in your wetsuit

Our friend Chris (oddsocks) is currently surfing the nice little 2 - 3 ft waves in the sun shine...

I however am not.

So he gets this photo on the blog...

There....... T

Record Club

I love Beck Hansen. I've been a big fan right from the start and his gritty Record Club recordings are great to dip into.
I also loved INXS. Michael Hutchence was my hero, right from the time I saw him holding a skateboard, wearing wayfarers, and exuding that sultry rockstar arrogance. I was hooked.
2 very different sounds. So when I was switched on to Becks re-recordings of tracks from the album 'Kick' (in my view, the seminal album from INXS) which I'd missed having neglected the Record Club for some months, well, it was a good day.
Being a bit of a purist, I don't think they're a patch on the originals (not quite what Record Club is about anyway) but it's always nice to see one artist I respect complimenting another. C

This deserves a mention....

...and you'll soon see why. C

Vintage Surfboard Collector UK

Guest Blog # ??

We're all done stock checking. It's been.... emotional.
So we haven't bigged up a guest blog for ages - it's high time we rectified that little aberration, straight away.
My friend Lee has taken it upon himself to troll the North Cornish countryside in search of Holy Wells and Celtic Crosses in his low-slung Merc. It's a lovely way to explore this area, just as the colours are so chromatic. He even found the Holy Grail the other day. C
Keep watch on his adventures here:

Lee Robertsons Blog

3 for 2

We're still checking stock at the moment, so blogs will return sharpish, as soon as we've returned the abacus. But for now, must let you know that we've got our roaring 3 for 2 deal on all the lovely new clothes and accessories. Buy 3 things and the cheapest is free. With Christmas but a Robin's tweet away, start buying and hoarding those presents now! C

Boo and hisss and a bit more boo I think.....

Bude - Crooklets Surf Report and Forecast

Stock Checking

Tom loves a tally up. Blog will return soon. C

Funny goings on

Let me tell you a little story that has actually left us a little bit wobbly in the knees and squiffy in the head (no we haven't been hitting the bottle, I assure you!).

There have been some strange occurrences in the shop today... bags falling from their shelves like deranged lemmings and books mysteriously being found lying on the floor with no-one around to put them there. However, the most disturbing of all was Emma entering the stock room only to witness a shadow of a person (or something) running past our staff room door towards the back of the shop, but nobody was in there to cast this shadow.

Ok... so it didn't have pointy nails, a hunch nor a staircase but you get my drift

So my question to you is.... does anyone know the history of our wonderful little shop? If so please drop us a line!

All I can say is that there's definitely something strange happening in the stock room today and on that note, I'm off - the computer is in here and I'm beginning to get a strange sensation creeping up my spine!

R x

Something Rumbling...

We've had a brainstorm. We've had input from friends. We've already had some interest. We've got John from Marketing on the case, Becky from Graphic Design on the case too. We've got a date (Saturday the 11th of December) and we've got a venue.

Get your biggest, darkest crayon and put a big scribble in that date on your calender. We don't want you getting booked up with anything else.

Then watch this space closely over the coming weeks.

All will be revealed, soon enough...

You'll always find me LOVING THE 80'S

Here's a little doff of the cap back to Leopallooza in the Summer - this band, Man Like Me, played and bedazzled on the main stage, becoming many peoples favourite act over the entire weekend. Then, a few days ago, reports started coming in to me that they'd been spotted on an advert for a popular Scandinavian furniture company. A little Youtube hit later and it turns out it's true. So here you go, this is them covering Jona Lewie's 1980 hit You'll Always Find me in the Kitchen at Parties - It's chuffing cool. C

Blogless

but it's that time of year again and we've been SOOOOOO busy today checking off little pieces of paper that we just haven't had the time to stick a pencil in our mouth, scratch our heads and come up with a little piece of literary genius.

The guys are in tomorrow and I PROMISE they'll make up for it!

R

The Return Of Summer

My car read 23 degrees celsius yesterday. Granted, I have a bit of an oil leak so this could have somehow affected the temperature gauge in my jalopy, thus making the return of Summer less of an anomally and more of an indication that I should really visit my friendly mechanic soon. But, when I got out of the car, I think it may have been right. I cast off my hoody and basked in the glorious October sunshine that felt more like early July. I even got in for 2 surfs, the second of which I had all to myself in near perfect conditions. These are rare times, and all the sweeter for it. Here's a shot from very first thing this morning. It was crisp and cool then. It's toasty again now. Long may the 2nd Summer continue. C

Boney M

surf·er's knobs (sûrfrz)
pl.n.

Tumor like skin nodules just below the knees, on the tops of the feet, and often on the toes, common among surfers who paddle in a kneeling position.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

AKA The Nubbin.....

T

Tribulations

Do you want to know the hardest part about running a surf shop?

Everyone knows exactly where to find you on a morning when the surf is pumping.

Don't get me wrong - this is often a real plus. They know they can get sorted if they need a block of wax, a leash or perhaps even a new wetsuit.

Unfortunately, there often comes with it a darker, more malicious reason.

They also seem to feel the need to tell me how good it is out there. They want to see me squirm, knowing (and they do know, however innocent they may act) that I have at least 7 hours to go before I can get near the roaring Atlantic with a board. And as any surfer in Cornwall is aware, 7 hours is a long, long time. Ample for conditions to turn on their head. I've had a bumper crop of wet haired friends in this morning. There must be an equation that some brainbox could figure - that the amount of surfing friends, fresh out of the water, who feel the need to wander in the shop and tell me what I'm missing is directly proportionate to the quality of the surf. The better the peaks, the more who get the urge to 'just drop by' afterward.

Here's a few I had in within an hour of opening:

Will - "...it wasn't that great."

The Scarecrow - "Oh, working today are you?"

Even our very own (judas) Tom dropped by, wearing nought but his Bobby Dazzler 3mm Gul Recore and a smile. And the wet patch on the floor? Well kids, let's just hope it's seawater. C

R.I.P. Violet the Seal Pup...

A bit of sad news this morning. Unfortunately, little Violet the seal passed away yesterday at 4pm. We'd all been hoping that she'd pull through, but with too many injuries and being so young, she didn't have the strength to eat and make it through. We were all aware that she wasn't well, and although the best efforts were made by the team at the National Seal Sanctuary, Violet has now gone to the big inshore waters in the sky, which I'm sure is teeming with fat mackerel. But big respect to Dave Jarvis, Dan Jarvis, Andy & Michelle and the rest of the team at BDMLR and the National Seal Sanctuary for all their best efforts to aid a tiny little sick seal pup, caught in the rocks on a dark, quiet shore. C

Dave Jarvis of the BDMLR (left); Dan Jarvis of the National Seal Sanctuary (right)

Fall

The leaves are goldening, sometimes released from the boughs with a cool gust from the North. Hot chocolate seems like the right thing to do, most of the time, and one Maple & Pecan slice isn't enough.
Pumpkins are fattening. Cider is sweet. The sea changes moods.

Autumn. It's upon us like a...like a... like a colder version of Summer? (Tom's words. Idiot.)
Ah man, I'm rubbish with similes today. Here, this better explains it...

"With the coming of autumn, the days grow shorter and the nights longer and the temperatures move from warm to cool. The colors of orange and red represent the changing, brilliant colors of autumn foilage. If summer is the period of youth in one's life, then autumn is the adult period. As Northrop Frye notes, autumn is associated with mortality and melancholy. A retreat is started from the wild wanderings in open natural space to inside, enclosed man-made spaces."
'Symbolism of Place', symbolism.org website

Basically, what they're saying in a slightly round-about way is, come to Gul Bude. We'll keep you warm through the colder days with our high-quality wetsuits, soul-snuggling clothing and Toms inane wit. C

Seal Tales

Firstly, I apologise for the slightly gruesome nature of the picture below. Those of a wet blanket nature might not want to scroll down too far. But I think it's sort of necessary and I'm hoping, with crossed fingers, that there will be some nicer pictures to come.
So... the story...
Last Sunday evening, I'd taken The Jeepster for a little walk on my local beach. Of late, we've had a large seal and a couple of pups washed up along the shore here, all sadly dead. So when a couple, and their particularly shrill Yorkshire Terrier made me aware of a seal pup they'd found, it didn't really come as a suprise, and I mentioned to them that there have been a few recently. But then we noticed a little flipper movement...
Although weak, the pup was still alive. The couple left, whilst I got in touch with the relevant people. Within a couple of hours, (and following possibly the most impressive sunset of the year) out of the pitch darkness that flooded the beach, a couple of volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue had arrived to diagnose the condition of the pup (one of them, Andy Crouch, happened to be a friend of mine. I wasn't aware of his little sideline in rescuing sea mammals. He's like the Batman of the North Cornish shore line, and that's pretty cool.) It was fairly obvious the pup wasn't in the best state, with a bad eye and several very visible injuries to the face. The volunteers decided that the seal had to be rescued, and managed to get her into the rescue bag that they carry (although small, cute despite the gore and obviously weak, I hadn't expected the pup to try and take Andy's hand off. But it also showed that she had some fight in her, which was a good thing.)
Once in the car park, I left them to it. The pup was to be given necessary fluids, and then taken on the long drive down to the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, where she is right now. Through the night I got great updates via text from Dave Jarvis, the Director of the BDMLR, as to her condition. It turns out she had over 50 bites (wasn't me, honest), a very bad eye, was malnourished and still very much a baby seal. They've put her on antibiotics too, to control an infection. At the Seal Sanctuary, they decided to name her 'Violet', due to the amount of antibacterial spray they had to put on the bitemarks. Currently, she's still a sick little seal. But she is, despite the injuries, still alive. In the next few days, pending her condition, both the BDMLR and the Seal Sanctuary are likely to have reports on Violet, which I'll repost to here, and let you know how she's doing. My fingers have been crossed since Sunday night. They hurt a bit now, but I'm not uncrossing them until she's in the clear. So far, so good.
For more information on the BDMLR click here, and to visit the Gweek Seal Sanctuary website, click here.
Updates soon. C

Don't eat fish... Surf one

http://www.fishbrotherhood.net/

T

Pssst

Quiet on the beaches, quiet in town. Quiet in the water.

I must tell you about something quite odd that happened to me last night but I'm awaiting some news and pictures first.

I'll try and blog about it on Wednesday. Meantime, come in and try on some of our new Winter wetsuits. We certainly are! C

'M' marks the spot.

There's quite a famous spot up near Bude. Famous, and yet I'm not supposed to name it. Technically, it's still regarded as a "secret spot", though this is debatable. It appears in British surf mags almost every month. Although I'm not an adherent of the whole Secret Spot mentality, I am a strict believer that it's nicer to go out and find these places by yourself. Checking for landmarks in the pictures then unfolding the ratty OS map and trying to place them. Modern day treasure hunting. Here's a shot of my friend Olly riding this particular secret spot near Bude yesterday morning...

...and here's some landmarks! C

ahem.... well

Please Enter Your EuroMillions Numbers

...........

Sorry, you haven't entered a winning selection.

I better get on with the hovering and dusting then

Oh well....

T

Blog off

I don't care, tonight's my night..........


http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/lotterydrawgames/euromillions.ftl

I'm going to buy the Maldives

T