Who remembers gliding on ice on a skating rink? Who still does it?

I remember:

• frozen fingers
• frozen toes
• lacing up my skates as tight as I could… which was never tight enough
• frozen feet encased in skates
• falling many times
• the thrill of – finally – not falling
• other skaters who all seemed to be more skilful and graceful than I
• but – finally – learning to skate – forwards and backwards

My family and friends never went skating at chic touristy venues like Beaver Lake or the Old Port. (Wait – the Old Port wasn’t a gentrified locale yet, back when I was a kid in the 50s.)

No, we’d go to local rinks like Terrebonne Park in NDG or McDonald Park in Snowdon, where in fact I first tried to skate at the age of 5. (I didn’t much enjoy it, since I spent more time prone than upright!)

As an adult I discovered the joy of indoor skating, and that was much more fun… No more frozen body parts! This was when I lived with my kids in St. Laurent, and took advantage of the beautiful rink at Aréna Raymond Bourque. 

Eventually, though, this pastime gave way to pursuits of the indoor type, like reading, writing, and – no! Not ‘rithmetic, smarty! – 😄  Just work, cinema, and the other ‘busy-ness’ of life…