Skating on a hot day

Today was very hot (43'C) so it wasn't that much of a surprise to get a call from Jess asking if I wanted to meet her and Craig at the Ice Arena in the afternoon.  I wouldn't have gone if someone else hadn't asked, but I don't want to be the wet squib so I said yes and headed down at the appointed time for my first skate of the year.  I didn't pick up B on the way, thinking that he needs to be doing other ten year old things in his holidays.  He'll probably pay me out about it, but that's a grandpa decision.

Me and Craig continued the relatively painful process of breaking in our new skates.  He seems to be making a fair bit of progress, working with his laces and the internet together to help get himself set up.  It sounds like the pain is going and I could see the increasing ease of his skating.  I didn't have a lot of energy so didn't go full on at any point, instead continuing to work the edges and balancing.  Probably didn't generate enough heat in the feet for the 'baking' process (whereby skates made of modern materials mould themselves to a foot if sufficient heat is applied, generally through hard skating), but it wasn't a debilitating pain.  The second hour went a lot quicker than the first.

Jess was beginning to do proper backwards swizzles and continues to work on her stopping.  Peter from Melbourne gave her a few tips and I think she found that quite helpful.

Met a lass from Darwin who asked me, with ten minutes or so to go, if I could show her 'how to do all my tricks'.  What do you say to a kid who asks that with all the earnestness of the young?  Especially a bright lassie who has a natural grace on her skates.  Who's from Darwin, where there is no ice rink?  I thought about it a bit, suggested she watch Youtube.  As she does have inline skates, but is interested in figure skating, I told her mum that the figure skaters I know at Gawler use quad skates, not inlines.  I think mum was planning how to score some quad skates as they left.

As we got home through the heat it was nice to feel that I'm a couple hours closer to having broken in my skates.  We all felt 'jelly legs' when we got home, age seemeth to not single me out in this respect yet.

Here's to another year of good skating experiences!