Jason Lunn.com/ Portfolio of a life…..

Rain, Rain, Rain

The last few days, no real major surf news the swell has been dropping off a bit and there have been the biggest rainfalls I have ever witnessed. Personally for me whether I am in the UK or in Bali grey skies and rain always make me feel low inside and my spirit always seems to slide back into a reserved and anxious mode. I really have had enough of the rain, sure it makes the trees and flowers grow and as a grown man I am absolutely aware of its necessity to the life force and ecosystems of earth but It still sucks!

The rain and grey skies remind me of going bmx racing with my family as a boy driving down the motorway in a hot moist family filled car. To then arrive at a muddy bmx track that I was expected to to race around all day in the freezing cold shivering whilst mud was washed all over my bike and all over me. Rain reminds me of sitting on long car and train rides in damp clothes. Rain reminds me of cycling on my paper round as a 12 year old delivering soggy papers in the freezing cold. Rain reminds me of extreme sports summer events that I had spent all year looking forward to competing in, getting cancelled at the last minute as a downpour ruined play. As a boy my friends and I, Damon Nicholls, Tony McKenzie, Steve Baldry and Ralph Tribe would travel to Romford skatepark by train and tube journey for 2 1/2 hrs at the weekend having spent all week at school to find all the bowls in the skatepark looking like half filled swimming pools. Seriously as you can tell I can not stand the rain it has spoilt weddings, barbecues, summer events, skate sessions, walks home from clubs, cycle rides and almost every outdoor activity I have ever tried to partake in whilst growing and living in the UK.

One of my reasons for coming to Bali during UK winter was for sunshine and waves, well I have had to adjust my expectations a little. Dec to March is Monsoon season. When it rains here it really rains, last night the rain was falling soo hard it was like watching it on fast forward on a dvd or video player, It feels like aggressive rain! I was caught short last night walking back from the beach with my friend Ellen Pape. a German female who is teaching English in Bali. The rain came soo hard that we ended up walking back shin to knee deep along the roads that had become like rivers..

However when the rain falls like this it seems more like an adventure and the extremity of the rainfall seems to transport me into a very different headspace. The streets of Kuta for a brief moment are deserted except for the occasional moped and taxi driving axle deep along the roads whilst the rain absolute hammers it down. The air is still warm and the water a similar temeperature to a warm bath or a swimming pool Rain here is not like rain in the UK, when it rains it pours and then in a matter of hours the rain is gone the streets bone dry and the sunshine lifts all the colour back from the lush tropical plants and flowers. The evidence of what was is now all completely gone, It is magical! unlike the Uk where the cold damp streets stay that way for days on end as the drizzle and greyness just sits and sits for what seems like a week at a time.

I actually enjoyed the rain last night for the first time in my life and today the streets are dry and the air seems to have lost much of its humidity.

Underwater Housing update

Its seems that one of the surf photographers from Transworld Surf magazine is selling his underwater housing so its looking possible that I may be able to purchase one second hand and save a few pennies, which I am pleased about.

I am still enjoying my time here, surfwise I feel pretty rubbish, many bars and restaurants are playing worldclass surf dvds and when I then go into the sea I realise how truly bad at surfing I am, so I aim to change this. There is a new swell coming on Wednesday which hopefully should bring some new waves to all the different beaches. Healthwise my stomach took a small turn this morning but I think it will pass quickly.

Snakes

Tiva Daka,

Tiva came back from a 5 am solo surf session yesterday, arrived at the breakfast table radiating his spirit filled character with a sparkle in his eye and a story to tell, It had rained all night but Tiva being the committed surfer he is decided that all the rain would increase his chances of getting the pick of the waves all to himself at 5am in the morning. Anyway to cut a long story short having had a bad ride to the beach through the shin deep puddles on the roads and getting soaked by passing vehicles, he ended up in the sea at low tide with an exposed reef on the paddle/walk out to where the waves break. Any way at this point of the story he had a big grin on his face pretty happy. He explained  that moments after he was saying his  “Dear Lord protect me on my surf prayers, just as he had finished asking the Big Man (as he puts it) to look after his feet on the reef. At that moment he managed to spot a sea snake coiled up on the exposed reef seconds before he was about to step on it. Thanking the lord for revealing this to him, he returned back to the beach to warn an Australian Surfer that their were snakes in the sea. The Aussie surfer asked, “what colour is it mate?”, Tiva replied, “black with white stripes” and as Tiva put it the Aussie surfer replied “godda be careful of the black an’ white onez mate, theyzz be facking deadlee!”  Anyway he is still alive and well enough to be surfing and thanking God which is good..

More snakes

In the morning one of the staff from where I am living was trying to guide a small green snake into an empty plastic bottle, the rain had shaken it out of the tree onto the parked mopeds below. The small green snakes are super poisonous, so I am checking my moped before i ride it now its common place for snakes to climb aboard and coil up on the warm engine cases.. Just another difference to driving in the UK, poisonous snakes..

Road Hazard, Sreet Dogs,

I am pretty sad to say I was riding down the by-pass two days ago and a street dog ran directly into the road and bounced off my front wheel at about 40 kmh, I reduced my speed from about 80 to 40kmh buy the time we collided. It hit my front wheel soo hard but fortunately didnt die, It screamed instantly and ran off limping, but it impacted pretty hard, I didn’t now whether to stop or continue, it ran off yelping really loudly and was in great pain, but was gone by the time I had slowed down. I have never hit anything driving before. It made me feel sick inside, it is pretty commonplace to see dog carcasses along the roadside, roadkill is pretty commonplace here and it looks like I have become part of it… not good…