A good start to the year

Back to skating class today. I was going to skate on Monday as well, to break myself in gently, but my back "twanged" on Monday at work and was really painful, so I rested it. Luckily it is fine now, but our chairs at work are awful!

So today was starting with Level 5 of Learn to Skate. A bit of gentle stroking to break our legs in, and then straight onto forward crossovers. I'd only done these once since the day I nutted myself on the ice, so was a little bit hesitant about this.

Much to my surprise, after doing a couple of these, the coach (a new one) pulled me off to one side, and asked me to do them on a clear bit of ice (I had been overtaking everyone else). Then she asked me to do them on the other leg (the side I had tripped on). So I did . . . . delicately. Then she asked me to do a backward snowplough - easy, I have been doing these for a while. And then I was asked to do a backward one foot glide, on both legs. Lifting my left foot was a bit of an ordeal, but I managed it. And then lastly, she firstly demonstrated, and then asked me to do a two foot spin. And I managed to do a couple of revolutions - not bad for a first time, doing it properly that is.

And then she put me straight into Level 6! And said I was a strong skater, to the Level 6 coach!!!!!

So, on my first lesson back, I have already moved up a level, which I am unbelievably chuffed about. And that means I have now passed:

• Forward crossovers in both directions
• Backwards snowplough stop
• Backward one foot glide
• Two foot spin (one revolution)

Then I moved over to the two other people doing Level 6, where we started on Continuous Backward Chasses in a Circle. Today we were just concentrating on pushing off and extending the free foot in front of us, when backward skating and then doing this in a circle on one side - basically, half of the chasse. It felt much better than I thought it would and I am now getting used to looking behind me as I do it, which oddly is another step in making me feel like a real skater!

I can't believe how tired my legs were getting today - not skating for three weeks really showed itself. But all in all, a pretty good start to my skating year!

I must also take this opportunity to tell you about my new toy. I bought a Christmas present for myself last week - a Panasonic Breadmaker. Oh, it's wonderful! So far, I have made a granary loaf, a french white loaf, a malt loaf for people at work, and two banana and nut loaves. I highly recommend it! And waking up to the smell of freshly baking bread is just amazing . . .