We were just being lazy at home, basking in the sun coming in from the window when the call came. It was a friend from work and he suggested going for ICE Skating.
I like such adventures, though I am not good at most of them. But the very idea of something outdoor excites me. Its the same for my wife as well. And so, it didnt take him much to convince us to join him despite the fact that both me and her have not done it ever in our lives.
As expected, the weather outside was as good as it looked from the windows. Sunny with light breeze on, its that kind of sunny cold feeling that I love.
We had to rent the skating shoes and that turned out to be the least interesting part of the adventure. They didnt had her right size and therefore she had to settle for one bigger. That gave her constant pain the feet. :(
And, when we finally hit the rink, it was wonderful. Despite the fact that we didnt know ANY ice skating, the whole atmosphere was lovely.
We were so bad with the skating thing, that we couldnt even stand on ice without holding onto something. The side railing came to our rescue even for the slow walking across the ring. I cant say it was skating because it was not. We were literally, dragging ourselves through the place, making a mockery of ourselves (not that bad though). We saw little kids doing lot better than us. I was overwhelmed... really...
The Rescuers, Railing and Friends
Before yesterday, I had only seen ice skating on TV (on those ice skating championships, that they air even in India) and loved the way these sportsman sort of float on ice...those movements, gyrations... just wonderful. I always felt it to be like a piece of art.
An Expert at Work
Now that I was there myself, in person, it came to me in reality. There I was, looking at all those people moving on the ice, the kids, the teenagers, the couples, the experts, the novices, the first timers (like me). Before that moment I had only imagined this thing, never set foot on that surface myself. I loved it from the heart.
Besides the fact that I loved the sport already, the weather was proving to be a perfect companion. It was sunny, the rays bouncing off the surface, somehow made it look unreal. It was later afternoon, and so the shadows were getting longer and the sun turning orange. All of it gave the situation a very romantic perspective.
A glimpse of sunshine on ice
While we were there, a truck came on to the ring to clean the surface. As it was going about the ring with the cleaning bit, the surface behind it was gleaming. I couldnt stop thinking, "Where in India would I find such a place, with all that infrastructure, all that care, attention to tiny details".
I like the way the western countries maintain what they have built. The infrastructure they have, the system they have in place for building that kind of community structures and maintaining them.
There were some learning aids for ice skating। An steel bar, a ice-man etc using which you could get a head start with skating. We tried to use some, but didnt get much out of it. Where I managed a few stints with the aid, my wife didnt like it so much (perhaps it was her shoes, hurting so she couldnt enjoy much anyway).
Steel Bar - The Learning Aid
After about about two hours we came back. It turned out to be pretty tiring. We didnt feel it right away, but the effort to skate showed up with legs, specially ankle aftwards.
We had planned to go to the local town carnival parade, but skipped give the tiredness.
Will write about that sometime later.
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