If you have had your eyes open for even two seconds in Dublin's city centre you will have spotted a veritable pool of trendy young people roaming the streets as per usual, but with one difference; a growing number seem to have given up on their ability to walk and are now pushing themselves along on thin slivers of wood. Skateboards are back. For anyone with a distaste of having their feet run over by miniature wheels, this is not the best news you'll receive all day, but it's hardly going to set you reeling in shock either. For anyone suffering from a bad case of 'am I buying the bus in downpayment or what?' bus woes, then skateboarding may be your saviour (if Dublin Bus doesn't mow you down in an act of irony that would best be appreciated by a hipster).

What exactly is a hipster you ask? Hipsterdom is stereotypically comprised of mainly white, middle-class young people whose fervent enthusiasm (that may be put down to youth?) is funnelled through a facade of sarcasm and irony. Obscurity is good in every form for the hipster creature; in music, fashion, location, everything. Following the stereotype image, there is a perceived unwaving air of affectation from the little urban creature, based in the raw desire to be artistic even if without real merit. Their natural habitat is somewhere covered in local-made art, with easy access to well kept vintage records. Now, by no means is this really what the hipster is, but it is the accepted joke of it at its base stereotype understanding. Put that all down to jealousy from the onlookers shall we say... Realistically, the best of nightlife, music and fashion (culture overall, let's be honest) is rooted in alternative culture. Especially in times of- if you'll excuse the use of the exacerbating and overused word- the recession. Music and themed lightlife excels, and free cultural events are run by the community. Take for instance the plans for a pop-up park with cafe and entertainment in Dublin thanks to The Dublin Project team. Obviously, the makeup of what a 'hipster' is doesn't actually follow the stereotype to a T by any means. It's no longer mainly middle-class white kids, with Brooklyn, Brick Lane and many other multicultural cities around the world sprawling with a plethora of skinny-jeaned, graphic tee and snap-back wearing youths of all colours and creeds, keeping their high-topped feet forever off the ground thanks to their little friends: the skateboard.

OK the '90s is back but is that the only reason young urbanites everywhere are tipping their snapbacks to Bart Simpson? Even The New York Times can't help focus on the alt trends, expressing that 'everything old is hip again'. It's even surfaced on TV in many a reality TV show chocablock full of wannabe cool kids (see Francis Boulle, Andy Jordan and Louise Thompson of Made in Chelsea). Look at the trending instagram pictures and all other social media mechanisms of the sort. Trends are unavoidable and often, as cheesy as it sounds, insighful, but when its done to excess doesn't it miss the point? Is skateboarding the ultimate example of 'the cool kids' downfall in spotting they are just being too damn trendy? Will they soon be skating into middle-aged life with suits and skateboards, and in doing so defang the alternative rhetoric they seem to promote? You can't be both Bart Simpson and Gordon Gekko after all, can you? Is it all just a laugh riding a skateboard with no deeper thought behind it? But then why skate all over packed, skate-unworthy town and not just in a skate park so as not to rile streetwalkers, be slowed down ,or worse flattened by traffic unsympathetic to trends? Who knows, you'll never get a straight answer off a real life board-using Hipster with a capital H; it's a well known fact the one thing hipsters really despise are other self-confessed hipsters. It's a vicous cycle.