On a cold wet day in Oct 2002, my friends and I caught a bus from Donostia San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain, and found ourselves hopping off in Mundaka, bang in the middle of the Billabong Pro. We had no idea it was on because we'd been trekking across europe for the prior 2 months. First time I ever watched a world pro event live. This page from my pre digital photo album, is the only evidence I have of that day, apart from a brochure and an ol tshirt i gave my bro. (Do you still have that by the way?) While Andy Irons went on to win this, I went on to a frenzied internet cafe to discover that 88 Australians had just been killed in Bali...and then I got an email from my boss, and then it all became a little more real to me. It was a surreal time.
I guess I think of this time because of all these thoughts swimming around my head...streaming live the current Billabong Pro on my mac in my living room, memories of Teachupoo's 'favourite son', the impending nine year anniversary of the Bali tragedy, and my own memories of the Basque. Today there are more dead bodies in Tripoli than they can cope with, NYC is preparing for hurricane Irene, more people are starving than ever before in the horn of Africa. It's still a surreal time we're living in.
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