Ice Skating

Today was another first. I went ice skating for the first time. In the space of sixty minutes a went from an "ice skating novice" to an "ice skating novice with sixty minutes of experience".




Actually it was a lot better than that. In fact I loved it. My sixty minutes on the ice passed in what seemed like twenty. Yes Yes I absolutely loved it. Cant wait to go again. Indeed my next spin on the ice, apart from walking and sliding on the roads every day, should be one day next week on an indoor rink.





But enough about what will be and back to what is and what was.


The rink as you can see from the pictures was outdoor, surrounded by the medieval towers of Tallinn and a bunch of English tourists, who for once weren't here just for a stag night. Fully aware of my inability to stand up on ice on the street and my wonderful ability to fall over, even on escalators. I made sure that I was well padded, so that when I would fall, which I was bound to , at least I would be well padded this time.



Wearing bright orange skates, I was given my instructions, to lean forward, bend my knees, stand in a "V" stance and push off. Knowing all this I still looked like what I really was. Namely a terrified amateur, convinced that I was going to fall and fall again.


Yet to my surprise and those around me, I only fell once and within the hour I was picking up speed and leaving the safety of the side railing far behind me.



Snow, Ice, Frozen coast lines, this is what travelling is all about.

Oh yes, one more thing. Having convinced myself that I can now skate, I went out and bought a pair of roller blades. I'll let you know how that works out in a later episdoe.