Wednesday 23 April 2008

Blade runner



While working in London a week or two back, I came across this fabulous chap in the free Metro magazine. Just in case it vanishes from their site, I'm also preserving it here:

Old swinger in rollerblade gang

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Racing through retirement as a geriatric blade runner is Britain's oldest street gang leader – 71-year-old 'Dangerous Brian'.

More 'hip' than hip replacement, Brian Allen loves nothing more than to skate through shopping precincts and practise tricks with his gang of teenage speed nuts.
He said: 'I've been skating all my life and there's no better exercise. 'I just love the speed – you can get up to about 20mph – it gives me such a buzz.' And while his peers may be playing bowls or going to tea dances the pensioner prefers playing roller hockey or rocking up to a roller disco near his home in Redhill, Surrey.

He added: 'I can do most of the tricks the youngsters do.
Some people give us black looks but never say very much. The police sometimes ask what we're doing, but they soon change their attitude when I turn round and they realise I'm a relic.'

Mr Allen's wife, Brenda, 65, said: 'I don't worry about him going out there, it's keeping him active.'

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