Who the f*** do I think I am?

Welcome to Jibber Jabber, a new blog dedicated to snowboarding.

I used to run a website called Stoked on Snowboarding that became too difficult to maintain after a series of serious illnesses. Even now I'm still recovering from bowel surgery after just getting the all clear from cancer... and that's only the illnesses I've suffered THIS year. (Yes, you should read THAT blog sometime but for now I'll spare you).

"I still have the telephone-directory-thick paperwork that Coca Cola's lawyers sent me when they threatened to sue!"

It didn't help that my banner design took the piss out of Coca Cola ( Stoked... Coke...geddit?) and looked similar to the red and white Coke can design but with a snowboarder pulling an air trick over the wavy white line. I still have the telephone-directory-thick paperwork that Coca Cola's lawyers sent me when they threatened to sue!

As you can see from the name of my new blog, I still can't resist a pun.

Two years after ending Stoked on Snowboarding, I still get a few free snowboarding dvds from film makers who know I can't do them the favour of promoting them. After staying in hospital 5 or 6 times in the last 3 years, I find this very touching. Let's face it, snowboarders and the people who work in snowboard related companies are a cool crowd.

I got to thinking that perhaps a blog could do everything my old website used to do. I could still write reviews of snowboarding movies and snowboard related video games.

"The nearest I ever got to being a *real* jibber was concussing myself on the long 'gas pipe' rail at Milton Keynes SnoZone..."

Posting photos would be a breeze now (you can even do it from your mobile phone these days). And I could even drop in the occasional YouTube video I come across. Plus I'd be able to read comments from you lot and know what you're thinking too.

I'll also point out any interesting sites, blogs and cool competitions I come across.

Let me say straight off that even though I have some professional 'journalistic' experience (I started as a writer for rock mag Kerrang! , ran the video games channel for UK internet service provider CompuServe and worked on BBC Radio 1's website for half a decade) I am not an amazing snowboarder. You would be surprised how many people at Radio 1 love snowboarding - my God!

The nearest I ever got to being a *real* jibber was concussing myself on the long 'gas pipe' rail at Milton Keynes SnoZone after realising I didn't know how to stop! I also turned myself black and blue when I refused to recognise my lack of talent in the snow park for two weeks in Fernie, Canada.

And then there was the time I slipped on some ice crossing the car park at the base of Big Mountain in Montana while carrying my board under my arm... I fell hard on the sharp edge of my board and for a month thought I had broken my ribs! Oh and if you are the fat middle aged woman with the chihuahua who sat in her car ignoring me while I crawled around on the floor thinking I was going to die... fuck you very much!

On the positive side, I love the mountains and I love snowboarding. I enjoy watching snowboard flix like the rest of you and then there was the time I got to interview my favourite snowboarder Jussi Oksanen and got him to sign my board (a Jussi 157.5 signature board funnily enough).

I might not be good enough to snowboard for a living but I still hold on to this crazy idea that someday someone might pay me to live in an idyllic resort in the mountains somehwere, writing blogs and building or designing websites via a remote hyperfast broadband connection and a laptop. Hey! Put that pin away before you puncture my dreams!

I hope those are credentials enough to waste a few minutes of your time now and again. And who knows, perhaps a few pro snowboarders who really DO know what they are talking about, might post the occasional comment. I can dream can't I?