Straight
Talk
The
Lure of the Ice
NADIA
KABIR BARB
“Please,
please can we go ice skating?" came the sugar coated
request from the kids this morning. I couldn't help smiling
to myself as I looked at them. They had obviously pulled
out all the stops as we had the big brown eyes, the lower
lip trembling and the wringing of the hands. The thought
that perhaps we should enrol them in drama school did cross
my mind as they seemed to be doing a brilliant impersonation
of Charles Dickens' Oliver begging for another bowl of gruel!
Well, all I can say is that we capitulated and agreed to
take them. One had to give them credit for effort! So in
the afternoon, like dutiful parents we bundled them into
the car and set off for the "Queens Ice Bowl"
which is the name of our local ice-skating rink. Not that
it has anything to do with our resident monarch only that
it is in a place called Queensway which conveniently is
not too great a distance from our house. But it does have
the added attraction of having a bowling alley, video arcade,
burger and food area as well as the ice skating rink.
Earlier
this year we had actually arranged an ice skating party
for our son and it seemed to be a big hit with all the boys.
For those who are not professional skaters or do this kind
of activity infrequently, the shoes required for skating
can be hired for a princely sum of £1. Once the shoes
were on, the kids were off like a shot. If the truth be
told I had spent most of the time biting my nails while
I watched my son's friends whizzing passed me at break neck
speed. The only solace was that they were obviously enjoying
themselves thoroughly. As luck would have it I had to sit
on the sidelines as my back did not permit me to partake
in this particular activity. As I had proved in the past,
falling on ones backside is not conducive to a bad back.
The only upside to not being able to skate was that I did
not have the opportunity to humiliate myself! However, the
rate at which people were falling over all over the place
made me think that I would have been quite at home on the
ice. But it goes to show how resilient people are as they
just kept getting off the cold, hard surface and continuing
as if nothing had happened. By the end of the party we were
lucky that all the boys were in one piece and I was the
only casualty as I was frozen to the bone thanks to the
temperature in the rink and the fact that I had been rooted
to the spot for the entire hour trying to keep an eye on
all the kids!
Once
again, as soon as we got to the rink, I was deserted by
my children and my husband, might I add. As I stood on the
sidelines I had the luxury of observing the antics of the
people as they glided past me. I am aware that envy is one
of the seven deadly sins but I have to admit that I felt
an enormous pang of jealousy when I saw my husband skate
around the rink with the children waving at me. How utterly
exhilarating it looked from where I was standing. The mix
of people was amazing. There were children as young as four
or five holding onto their parent's hands but still determined
to skate with them. There were a couple of brave but to
my mind foolish parents skating with babies in their arms.
I dreaded to think what would happen if they fell. Every
now and then a group of teenagers would zip by me holding
onto each other and laughing and joking. I had never thought
of it as a place to socialise but actually it seemed like
a great place to go with your family or friends and just
"hang out". Definitely a good way of keeping kids
off the streets or spending too much time in front of the
television, computer or play station! What was also extremely
nice to observe was how helpful people were. Complete strangers
would come and help you up if you had fallen or lend a hand
while you tried to get to grips with staying vertical on
the ice. There was almost a feeling of camaraderie amongst
fellow skaters. I had read a magazine article just the other
day which mentioned that taking your date ice skating was
supposedly a great way to get to know each other and I had
to admit I was rather skeptical. But in retrospect, what
a novel way to break the ice (terrible pun but irresistible!).
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(R) thedailystar.net 2005
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