The balance and grace of ice skating

Everyone awaits a long weekend and plans go off for the next one no sooner than one ends .. So what was I planning this Thanksgiving weekend ? Well, it wasnt such a difficult choice this time around .. As luck would have it, three close buddies were making plans of visiting Seattle. I did get a chance to spend time with each of them although the weather was chilly and breezy.
Yesterday evening while strolling through the lit up Seattle centre, we stumbled upon an ice rink and thought it would be fun to do some ice skating. Madam M was gung ho about it and she left no stone unturned to tempt us into it. My initial impression after looking a this modest size rink was that this is going to be a child's play .. well after all there were young kids performing it with effortless ease. Little did I imagine that skating would turn out to be such a daunting task. So I set off all messed up about the correct size for the skates. I tried 11"" and 12"" sizes but nothing seemed to fit the description M seemed to hold. So I boldly entered the rink, holding on to the edges with nervous movements. After all there aint no fun in breaking bones here !! An explicit warning to "skate at your own risk" further corroborated this fact ... I looked around and the grace and ease with which everyone was doing it astounded me ... I found it difficult to move around without holding onto a support. So I did manage a couple of rounds around the rink after some rather discomforting moments. It took its toll on me as we had already done enough of walking around. I realised that I was embarassing myself out there but still decided to carry on. M seemed to gain confidence with every move until the moment of truth arrived and the next thing she woke up too was that she had a heavy fall on her b***. poor thing !! but she continued after that minor hicccup .. G was rather content on circumspect moves and he seemed to do the balancing act rather well ...
Well for me all I can say is that it was not my cup of tea. I have done skiing before and thought that was difficult enough but now I hold an entirely different opinion. I am glad I did not break any bones and came out unscathed ..