The GuardianThe Guardian

What makes me feel happy? Falling flat on my face off a skate ramp

By Nikesh Shukla

09 Apr 2023 · 4 min read

A skatepark is a great place to forget about work. For some, it's a place to push themselves to the limit. For one Guardian writer, it was a reminder that he was alive.

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The best thing about a job that doesn’t keep traditional office hours is that I can sneak off with Bobby on a Tuesday morning to the skatepark. It’s usually quiet and empty: a perfect place for two dads who took up skateboarding in their 40s to feel alive (and also, to try to stay alive).

I began skating a few years ago when my friends, fellow Bristol-based writers Bobby Etherington and Emylia Hall, insisted I try Emylia’s surf skate*,* a skateboard with a concave deck built to emulate surfing waves. It was tricky and I was wobbly but the second I got the groove of it, and I cruised along the path, I felt alive. To skate is to not be in your head, but be in your body instead, giving yourself over to your instincts.

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