"The soul of Bob is in this park...

in the trees, in the grass. No man can tell me that I can't ride around it."

Every morning, a man known only as D cycles around my local Crystal Palace park singing and smoking a reefa. On first sight he appears to be a happy guy sporting a banana yellow mountain bike to match his bright orange lycra's. But say hello to him and you're in trouble. 'Why are you saying hello to me...eh?" is the answer I got when I said good morning to him one sunny day. He says himself that he's so used to negativity that he's come to expect it. Give him some time and patience though (lots and lots of it) and it's easy see that despite his skunk fuelled intensity, he's a peaceful man plagued with paranoia about the system, women trouble, concerns for the environment and pure love for music.


D's been around the area for a long, long time and his version of the 1980 Bob Marley and Wailers concert in Crystal Palace Park is the best I've heard so far. He is afterall, in his own words 'the original google,' so it's to be expected. When he speaks of the concert with singing to illustrate the story, he sucks you into the vibe so much, that you wish you could have been there yourself. I wish I could say more about him but I can't do his strong character justice. Maybe one day he'll allow me to record his stories or take some photos of him but taking into consideration his concerns about being watched, I very much doubt it.

Still... here's the only pic I could find of Bob Marley and The Wailers on the very stage that me and the Palace fammo sit near every week. That very concert which still blesses the various gangs of skaters, joggers, cyclists and dog walkers of Crystal Palace Park with the soul of Bob.

D's tribute to freedom: "All them people walking around the park, who aint really feelin it, seeing it. They're wasted. Look at him over there, his belly hanging out of his trousers. He needs some exercise. He's trapped inside himself."

Further info about what truly is one of the most fascinating parks in London:

http://www.cocgb.dircon.co.uk/cry_pal_park.htm


www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk

and about Bob Marley's visit:

"When Marley came to London to play Crystal Palace Bowl in 1980, he didn’t want to do any interviews. Instead, Partridge booked the five-a-side court at Eternit Wharf Sports Centre in Fulham for four afternoons. Anybody who wanted to meet Bob had to challenge him and the Wailers to a match. ‘I remember we took all 11 Wailers up to a sports shop on the Fulham Palace Road to get some kit,’ says Partridge. ‘The shopkeepers didn’t know what had hit them."