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by
BBC South Yorkshire
contributor Rory Dollard |
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Ice-skating
is always one of those things that seems like a remarkably good
idea at the time.
And
if you can handle a few bumps and bruises, and the humiliation of
being scorned at by infinitely more proficient primary school children,
it generally is.
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| Get
your skates on! |
The
fact is that you need the balance of a Russian gymnast just to stay
on your feet. I am not a Russian gymnast, I fail on the grounds
of both being born in England and being remarkably ungainly.
Thankfully,
this doesn't detract from the fun.
Two
types of people go skating - those who can skate and those who cannot
- and both come off the rink with smiles on their face.
The
possibility that I might be one of the ‘cannots’, of course, never
enters my mind.
I strap
on my skates, shuffle toward the ice and then, recalling Dickensian
scenes of winter fun, proceed to fall over. Torvill and Dean are
safe for a while yet.
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| With
a bit of practice, you could look like this... nearly |
If
you can get over the fact that you won’t be doing back flips and
winning gold medals in the next hour or so (a bit tough for a man
such as myself who has also had to give up on other childhood dreams
like winning the Ryder Cup and lifting the World Cup in recent years)
it is fantastic fun.
For
the nostalgics among us the ice rink also does a great line in retro
soundtracks.
The
pride of doing a full lap for the first time and singing “I am the
one and only” (and believing it) is something that must be experienced
to be believed.
Go
with your friends, sing with them, hold on to them, fall over with
them, fall over on them.
But
you really should go, if only so you can appreciate why they’ve
postponed The Simpson’s for the Winter Olympics next time.
Got
a favourite activity or pastime that costs less than a tenner? Tell
us about it!
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