MY KARMIC LEATHER JACKET

 

This photo of me taken by Paul 'Milo' Milsom is from the early 90s maybe some time around 1991ish.
 

Milo was staying with me in Falmouth, we spent the weekend skating Crantock, St Newlyn East and almost definitely Playing Place too. In the evening we did a little curb scratching and ended up at a party with ‘lots of garlic’ according to Milo. I actually don’t remember the garlic part. 

I do remember that leather jacket though. 

I had worked previously at Skateboard! magazine in London. The publisher also produced a couple of motorcycle titles from the same offices. They were a cool bunch and the mix of skateboarders and bikers actually worked just fine. 

I would cycle to and from work across London and one night when I went to leave it was pissing rain and freezing cold. One of the biker journos, guy called Rick lent me a leather jacket he had lying around in his office as I only had a hoody over my tshirt for protection. 

Fuck, that thing felt so good! Fitted perfectly, was hefty but sort of loose in a cool way. The leather had a beautiful authentic patina that only comes with true wear and tear. The weight of it alone was enough to let you know you were shouldering something substantial… I don’t think I even owned a coat at the time, maybe just a sketchy charity-shop anorak. So this was a revelation to me, I was hooked - that jacket was awesome.

The next day I left it at home to dry as it had got soaked on the previous night’s ride home. Back in the office I asked Rick if I could keep it as I knew he didn’t wear it often, in fact I’d never seen him wearing it at all. In the same way that we got freebies on the skate mag, the biker journos always had fresh gear; jackets, gloves, helmets, boots etc. Perks of the job. And I knew that he was particularly taken with a new Italian leather jacket he’d been swanning around in for the last month or so. He didn’t exactly say no. Mainly cuz I was pestering him so hard to let me keep it by guilt-tripping him into passing it on to me, knowing for a fact he got it as a freebie himself and didn’t wear it. I think he would have preferred me to shut up about it and take the hint that he would rather keep it than give it to some annoying skater. I let it pass, but importantly the jacket was in my possession.

I took to wearing it all the time as if it was in fact my jacket, and whenever I passed Rick in the hall he would jokily threaten that he wanted it back. And I would equally jokily respond ‘Yeah, yeah - one of these days..” Like I said, those biker guys were cool. 

I was not cool though, because I basically re-assigned ownership of that jacket from Rick to me right in front of his face. What a shit move.

After a year or so, it just became mine... I figured it was like squatters rights - if you live in it long enough then it becomes yours.

Eventually the magazine gig came to an end and I moved on. Which is around exactly the time that the above photo was taken of me wearing ‘my leather jacket’ back in Cornwall. Well needless to say Karma caught up with me because also not too long after the pic was taken, so was the jacket.

Stolen. Out one night somewhere, placed it on the back of a chair, closing time comes around and with it the realisation that the jacket has gone. I was gutted but I also knew justice had been served. I’d been sneaky taking that jacket from Rick and it was inevitable that it would be taken from me in the same manner. Full circle karma baby!