Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Well, tonight was the night of the Somerset House Ice Rink visit with my work colleagues!

For those who haven't visited / seen a photo of it / live in another country, here it is in its full glory (not taken by myself, unfortunately).

It truly is a stunning place to skate, with a large Christmas tree (filled with "Christmas Wishes" for Children in Need), flaming torches, lights, and beautiful buildings rising up around it. It was a joy for me also to skate on smooth (ish), and above all completely flat ice, particularly when you take into account I am used to skating on top of subsidence! And skating in the open air was wonderful as well, feeling the wind rushing through my hair when I got some speed up.

However, lots of beautiful things have a downside. And this was no exception - the main downside being that most of London think that it is a wonderful place to skate as well. I will never complain about my rinks being busy again! Yes, it was packed. However, interestingly, I am beginning to rather enjoy this on occasion. Obviously today was a day for simple skating only, but it was kind of fun to do a bit of weaving around other skaters. I always try to be careful, but it is good practice for the reflexes!

The other downside was that I think they have been struggling with the unseasonal weather we have been experiencing in England this year, as the ice was quite wet. Didn't really bother me, but there were a few wet bums on the rink!

So how did my colleagues fare? Well, first of all was "L" - she is a skier, and I think she is also quite a natural skater. I started to teach her to skate backward, and she was doing seriously well for a first attempt.

"A" was a complete surprise to me - he always gives the impression of being quite a careful, precise and restrained person at work. However, put him on a pair of blades and he turns into a 15 year old! He was really throwing himself into it, and going for speed - a few times I could see him trying to overtake me! I told him that he should think about taking up ice hockey - he has the "kamikaze" attitude that I think is so prevalent in hockey players.

"J" hadn't been skating for 23 years, but he really persevered with it. One place where Somerset House do well is that they have a tiny rink on the side for beginners. He spent some time here going round until he could do an entire lap without holding on, and then did a couple round the main rink. And only fell once! I did discover that it is quite hard to keep telling a newbie to keep bending the knees. when most peoples natural response is to stiffen them up when first skating. And bless him, he is well over six foot so has more leg to control than a lot of people!

The hour shot past - I spent some of it zooming around, and some teaching my colleagues things (like the backward skating). I must admit, I was practically the last one off the ice (I was waiting for everyone else to get off first, honest!) and the skate marshall laughed at me as he went past, after doing the last "Clear the Ice" call, and said "That means you too!". I was only pottering around with a few edges . . .

After that, it was off to Wong Kei's in Chinatown for a huge Chinese meal - the waiters are spectacularly rude (in fact it is a feature of the place) but the food is fantastic. I am completely stuffed now, especially as we had our Christmas lunch at work today as well!

You'll also be glad to know that not having skated for eight days seems to have done me good. All nerves were gone today, so it seems I have escaped that fall unscathed.

Hopefully I will be skating on Hampstead Heath on Saturday evening. Truly, this time of year is great for skaters!