A Saturday on the ice with friends
Door: Sarajan Graanoogst
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sarajan
22 Maart 2014 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Cardiff
Saturday the 8th of March I stood up ready to conquer the ice. Or so I kept telling myself. The last time I had skated on ice was before I went to Suriname at nine years old.
Supposedly members of the fencing club would meet in front of the Student Union building. But when I arrived there I saw only one person I knew from the fencing club: Tim, a somewhat somber lad that abhors over-cheery situations. Still I found out he has a humorous side to him that surfaces in the pub. But I get ahead of myself. We waited a moment for others to come, but it became soon apparent that no one would be joining us there so we walked to next point on the route to the ice-skating rim: The bus stop. It took us about 5 minutes walking to get there (no other team members there) and when on the bus we were at the skating rim in about 20 minutes. And … no team members there! Tim suggested that they took the car to the skating rim and as it turns out he was right. After at least 5 minutes of extra waiting (luckily the weather was excellent) Lauren finally came driving up the parking area with in her car Rosie and Zoe and their boyfriends George and Ben (? It’s bad but I’m not sure about his name). We went inside to hire skates (except for Lauren who turned out to be a veteran on ice) and carefully stepped onto the ice. It took me quite a while to find my ice legs, but after a few circles around the rim, dodging little speeding ice devils that were terrorizing everyone I finally found some more confidence. It turns out I wasn’t the only one on shaky legs everybody was skating at the same pace I was except Lauren who gracefully glided over the ice sometimes alongside Zoe and boyfriend, sometimes flanking Rosie and boyfriend and sometimes trailing Tim and me. All the while she encouraged us to keep going. “We were doing great”.
Now I’m sure that after gaining more confidence doing an activity that requires some skill everybody becomes emboldened and starts to attempt to make things more interesting. It was the same with me. Soon I was trying to do half spins and skating around the corners like the skaters in the races on tv. In other words: I got cocky. It was not soon after that I spun out of balance and landed mostly on the palm of my right hand which I had hurt days earlier while exploring the forests around Castle Coch. Not long afterwards two more team members arrived: Chris and Jack. After a few more circles around the rim we were urged to get off so the ice could be smoothed over.
We bantered good-naturedly about our efforts on the ice while we waited for the Zamboni to smooth over the ice. Now after having fallen down and having a break I was nervous to get on again and so when we resumed our skidding on the ice (turns out poor Jack was definitely out of his element on the ice) I was back to square one: I had to find my ice legs. Still, I found them again after a few rounds. And I must say seeing the experienced skaters speeding so confidently on the ice, coming to a stop in an ice spraying way and even skating backwards I could not help but admire them and wanting to be as graceful as them. Regrettably I would have to settle for dreaming about such swan-like grace while doing my best not to ram anyone.
When the whole group had decided they were tired of using whatever muscles are used most during skating, we made plans to go the ‘Central pub’ (the ‘Spoons’) for dinner and after a while we could all enjoy a nice burger/ribs or some other nice meal with fries on the side.
We had a wonderful time with nice conversation and laughter. Tim proved he could be more cheerful after a few pints and jokes and teases circled round the table. Later on we were also joined by Siera and Lisa and we stayed at the spoons until it was around 21.00! When I checked my phone for the time (I really need to get a watch again; it’s a nice accessory not to mention that a manly watch would look good on my wrist) I was stunned by how fast the time had gone by. I guess it proves a few sayings: ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ and my own: ‘sharing good times with others increases the amount of fun you have exponentially’. Put those together and time will go by really fast.
Well that was a Saturday on the ice with friends for you. The next adventure takes place in Bangor. Stay tuned!
p.s. the pictures are on facebook this time (I forgot my camera, but others were so kind to make pictures using their phones; the one time I won’t bitch about too many options on the modern phone)
Supposedly members of the fencing club would meet in front of the Student Union building. But when I arrived there I saw only one person I knew from the fencing club: Tim, a somewhat somber lad that abhors over-cheery situations. Still I found out he has a humorous side to him that surfaces in the pub. But I get ahead of myself. We waited a moment for others to come, but it became soon apparent that no one would be joining us there so we walked to next point on the route to the ice-skating rim: The bus stop. It took us about 5 minutes walking to get there (no other team members there) and when on the bus we were at the skating rim in about 20 minutes. And … no team members there! Tim suggested that they took the car to the skating rim and as it turns out he was right. After at least 5 minutes of extra waiting (luckily the weather was excellent) Lauren finally came driving up the parking area with in her car Rosie and Zoe and their boyfriends George and Ben (? It’s bad but I’m not sure about his name). We went inside to hire skates (except for Lauren who turned out to be a veteran on ice) and carefully stepped onto the ice. It took me quite a while to find my ice legs, but after a few circles around the rim, dodging little speeding ice devils that were terrorizing everyone I finally found some more confidence. It turns out I wasn’t the only one on shaky legs everybody was skating at the same pace I was except Lauren who gracefully glided over the ice sometimes alongside Zoe and boyfriend, sometimes flanking Rosie and boyfriend and sometimes trailing Tim and me. All the while she encouraged us to keep going. “We were doing great”.
Now I’m sure that after gaining more confidence doing an activity that requires some skill everybody becomes emboldened and starts to attempt to make things more interesting. It was the same with me. Soon I was trying to do half spins and skating around the corners like the skaters in the races on tv. In other words: I got cocky. It was not soon after that I spun out of balance and landed mostly on the palm of my right hand which I had hurt days earlier while exploring the forests around Castle Coch. Not long afterwards two more team members arrived: Chris and Jack. After a few more circles around the rim we were urged to get off so the ice could be smoothed over.
We bantered good-naturedly about our efforts on the ice while we waited for the Zamboni to smooth over the ice. Now after having fallen down and having a break I was nervous to get on again and so when we resumed our skidding on the ice (turns out poor Jack was definitely out of his element on the ice) I was back to square one: I had to find my ice legs. Still, I found them again after a few rounds. And I must say seeing the experienced skaters speeding so confidently on the ice, coming to a stop in an ice spraying way and even skating backwards I could not help but admire them and wanting to be as graceful as them. Regrettably I would have to settle for dreaming about such swan-like grace while doing my best not to ram anyone.
When the whole group had decided they were tired of using whatever muscles are used most during skating, we made plans to go the ‘Central pub’ (the ‘Spoons’) for dinner and after a while we could all enjoy a nice burger/ribs or some other nice meal with fries on the side.
We had a wonderful time with nice conversation and laughter. Tim proved he could be more cheerful after a few pints and jokes and teases circled round the table. Later on we were also joined by Siera and Lisa and we stayed at the spoons until it was around 21.00! When I checked my phone for the time (I really need to get a watch again; it’s a nice accessory not to mention that a manly watch would look good on my wrist) I was stunned by how fast the time had gone by. I guess it proves a few sayings: ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ and my own: ‘sharing good times with others increases the amount of fun you have exponentially’. Put those together and time will go by really fast.
Well that was a Saturday on the ice with friends for you. The next adventure takes place in Bangor. Stay tuned!
p.s. the pictures are on facebook this time (I forgot my camera, but others were so kind to make pictures using their phones; the one time I won’t bitch about too many options on the modern phone)
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
