For the record, I am not a good skater. I’m actually pretty crap at it, but I will give it a try every now and then.
Today Franco and I went down to the Harbourfront Centre Natrel Rink for a practice session. He’s taking hockey lessons right now and needed to practice so I tagged along for the ride, skates in hand.
I’m not a complete beginner, I’ve skated a few times already, mostly in Ottawa on the Rideau Canal, but the sessions were few and far between.
Today in Toronto the weather was glorious, the sun was out and the skating crowd was surprisingly thin, which made it easier for someone of my limited experience to get on the ice and stagger/slip/slide as best I could.
I fell only once, which is quite good, but also bad. I banged the back of my head on the ice and man, did it hurt! When I finally woke up, I pulled myself to my feet and carried on regardless, albeit in an even wobblier manner.
Luckily, there was a group of South American students practicing at the time and they also didn’t know how to skate very well, which in a peevish way made me feel a lot better. When you’re a novice skater, seeing other people struggle to remain upright is always very satisfying. And apart from their boosting my morale, I also learned some new Spanish swear words today!