31.10.2024
Phrases & images: Ridout
Aberystwyth hospitality with a Lithuanian twist
It’s humorous how one can plan a visit to Sicily for a couple of months, solely to resolve on the drop of a hat to modify from residing out your White Lotus fantasies to boarding a Ryanair flight sure for Lithuania. We’d initially chosen Sicily for the just about assured nice climate. The plan was to deal with ourselves to an Airbnb with a pool, eat some cannoli and skate all these amazing-looking plazas. I wished to go as an excuse to make probably inappropriate Godfather references the entire time.
Proper earlier than we had been about to tug the set off on flights, Lloyd threw a curveball by suggesting Lithuania as an alternative. Seeing as all of us had missed his wedding ceremony there a couple of months earlier than, it felt like the proper factor to do. He had returned briefly to the UK a couple of months earlier than his wedding ceremony to get some much-needed ACL surgical procedure (shout out the NHS), and this journey was the primary time he’d skated semi-properly since. The very first thing he did was a wild double tail drop right into a financial institution with Pulley. Good to see he’s nonetheless as mad as his artwork on the board.
Cliched because it sounds, I wasn’t fairly positive what to anticipate as we flew in direction of Vilnius. I foolishly imagined quite a lot of barren land and random monolithic warfare monuments. I assume my mind is warped from watching too many chilly warfare spy motion pictures. I’m not going to say there wasn’t any trepidation flying on the market – “Are there even any spots on the market?” was the very first thing anybody requested after we talked about our journey. Lloyd had assured us that there have been, however having seen what Lloyd calls a spot (test his half within the Carve Depraved video Previous Skool Nokia to see what I imply) solely led to extra trepidation.
Upon touchdown, all that trepidation stayed on the airplane and flew elsewhere for an inexpensive worth with minimal leg room. We had been greeted with the nice shock of not solely unseasonably heat climate, but in addition a welcome banquet of Gold Prime lager, barbecue meals and varied native snacks, all laid on by Lloyd. Prepared for the barbecue had been buckets of pork in brine, a foodstuff that was renamed “chum” after it was identified that it resembled seal meals. Aberystwyth hospitality with a Lithuanian twist.
And thus, we had a reputation for the journey: Chum Bucket. Each evening we gorged on barbecued chum, with Lloyd as senior griller. As a result of Lithuanian booze legal guidelines limit the sale of alcohol after 8pm, we discovered ourselves setting alarms to ensure we had sufficient time, wherever we had been, to race to the closest grocery store and fill up on chum and cans. Every evening we appeared ahead to a go to from a tank of a cat we named Ruskle, who solely appeared when the magical chum was out.
Our obsession with the bountiful chum was solely matched by everybody’s newfound obsession with fishing. The Airbnb I’d booked was subsequent to an enormous idyllic pond and an excellent larger lake, and “Rod on” grew to become the morning greeting, with Jake even setting an alarm to get up further early to get his rod on. Too unhealthy for him that each one his efforts had been in useless, incomes him the shameful nickname of fishboy.
I really feel like this all getting a bit too anecdotal, and maybe a bit boring if you happen to weren’t there. Lithuania, nevertheless, is way from boring. Situating ourselves between the capital, Vilnius, and the nation’s second-largest metropolis, Kaunas, meant we had a plethora of spots on our doorstep. The Unity Sq. plaza in Kaunas is a dream spot – as if the moon had been skateable, with concrete smoother than quite a lot of parks within the UK. Completely bust-free, too. In actual fact, we solely acquired booted from one spot throughout our go to. Individuals appeared to maintain themselves to themselves and didn’t appear to care about skateboarding.
Bizarrely, there’s a monument to Frank Zappa within the centre of Vilnius. My authentic plan for this text was to attract comparisons between Zappa enjoying behind the iron curtain and our journey many years later. Nevertheless, it seems that Zappa by no means even went to Lithuania. Lloyd’s father-in-law was a part of the committee that acquired the monument made in 1995 by artist Konstantinas Bogdanas, who was identified for his earlier statues of Vladimir Lenin and different Soviet heroes. It was meant to symbolise the tip of the communist rule of previous and the brand new western model of democracy coming in.
Listening to concerning the Zappa monument from Lloyd meant that he acquired so much airplay within the van. I’ve at all times identified about Zappa’s music, however I’d by no means actually listened to him earlier than this journey, aside from that glorious Lucas Puig half in Bon Appetit, that’s. This journey proved to be the gateway drug to changing into a fan.
The Zappa statue isn’t the one piece of western popular culture in Vilnius. Overlooking the platforms on the Central Railway Station is a 15ft statue of Tony Soprano about to choose up the morning paper. No, I’m not joking. It was the very first thing I heard about from everybody who had been to Lithuania for Lloyd’s wedding ceremony. I didn’t imagine them. Seeing it within the flesh is fairly surreal, and purpose sufficient for any Sopranos fan to go to.
Perhaps I’m a bit too pop culture-obsessed. I’m positive there are many cool galleries and different issues to see, however I’m simply comfortable I acquired to see an enormous Tony Soprano and skate someplace new with my mates. Massive shout out to Lloyd and all of the Lit legends we met alongside the way in which!
Watch Harry Deane’s accompanying video, Chum Bucket, right here.
