Get your skates on
One of the most enjoyable extra curricula activities which I used to participate in when I was a schoolteacher back in Britain, was taking a group ice skating.
Now, I am not a particularly good as an ice-skater. There is no way that I could perform figure skating, ice-dancing or play in an ice hockey game. I can, however, stand on my own two legs and can get around the rink … after a fashion. To be honest, the last time I went skating, however, was over fifteen years ago, so I am well out of practice.
My first trip to a skating rink was when I was about sixteen years old and living in Malvern. The nearest rink was in Birmingham, almost 100km away, so we didn’t get to go very often – maybe three or four times a year. One of the local church groups organized the first trip when I was about sixteen and it proved to be a very popular outing, so other follow-up trips were arranged. As I got older I was co-opted onto the organizing “committee”, although there was nothing really formal about it … one of us ordered the coach whilst the rest of us acted as coordinators in our own church or school, advertising the trip and created lists of those who wanted to go.
Once I left Malvern to go to college, that seemed to be the end of my skating career, such as it was. Like many children growing up, I undertook a range of activities which were to be abandoned when I became an adult. A few years later, however, I was teaching in North London and someone suggested running a “class trip” to go ice skating. In fact, it wasn’t for my class, but as there are rules governing school trips which require that there must be a male adult if the group includes boys, I was asked if I would go along as the “statutory male” and as a reward, I was allowed to invite those in my class to come along.
Once again the nearest rink was some distance from where we were in Southgate, but the trip proved to be a very successful. We organized several trips, one a term. As time went by the rules concerning school trips got more and more onerous, but they were pleasant evenings and staff and children saw each other in a different light.
Here in Bishkek there are a couple of ice rinks. One opened on the outskirts of town last year and I was persuaded by some friends to go and have a look. I didn’t go on the ice, as it was a cold winter’s day, snow lay on the ground outside, and even inside it was bitterly cold. The cavernous tent enclosed the rink which is big enough to house a hockey match, with seating all around for spectators, a small cafe and a skate hire, as well as administration offices and so on. There were quite a few people on the ice but it was nowhere near as crowded as the rinks in Britain.
After the fiasco of the “ski day“, when we were unable to hire skis, I decided that I would take the baseball kids skating as a form of compensation for their disappointment … at least I was sure that we would be able to hire the necessary equipment this time.
They have never been skating, so this was something new and they were excited about for the week before. As there were six of them, plus me and I felt that I had to have at least one female with us as there were girls in the group, I ordered a minibus rather than try and take taxis, even though the rink was just on the edge of town. As a result there were spare seats in the bus and I decided to invite some other people from the office and John, a consultant from England who is working here on a project.
We gathered at the appointed time and boarded the minibus, and off we went. This time I felt that I had to go on the ice, just to show the kids that there was nothing to be afraid of. As I said, it’s been several years since the last time that I went skating and I realized straight away that I was out of practice. It didn’t help that the skates were for ice hockey and didn’t have the serrated leading edge that I was used to. However, I was lucky enough to stay upright all the time and completed several circuits of the rink even if I didn’t stray too far from the barrier around the edge.
John, on the other hand, was not so lucky. He fell over three times … and on one occasion fell on his thumb, which quickly swelled up and showed signs of bruising. Fortunately, it wasn’t broken and, although it proved inconvenient and caused him some problems in performing some simple tasks over the next week or so, it healed quickly and counted his blessings as he considered how much worse it could have been. The thumb is a very important digit and we use it in all sorts of ways, but had it been one of his other fingers then it could have stopped him typing, possibly preventing him from doing a lot of work … if it had been his leg, or his hip, then he could have had much more serious problems.
The kids, however, took everything in their stride. For absolute beginners, they quickly found their balance and were shooting around and across the center of the rink at breathtaking speeds. It was a Saturday afternoon, and they weather outside was not particularly nice – although it was raining rather than snowing, so there weren’t many people on the ice and that meant there was plenty of room for them to experiment without risking a major incident or accident. When they did fall over, they managed to roll with it and were quickly back up on the feet and skating away. I suppose the fact that they had some experience roller skating should have been a help, but I put it down, mainly, to the fearlessness of youth.
As it happens, one of the big differences between skating here and back in Britain some fifteen years ago, was the amount of safety equipment. Not everyone was wearing shoulder and elbow pads or safety helmets … but there were a lot of them in evidence and whereas I remember seeing the odd skater wearing pads before, I don’t think I can ever remember seeing anyone in a helmet before.
When it was time to gather to return home, it was evident that, just as back home all those years ago, it proved to be a very popular event. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the excursion and were eager to organize another outing … John also wants to go again … and he thinks we can get some other ex-pats to come along, … so maybe I’ll need to book a bigger bus … and, to be honest, it’s good to get away from the desk and I am quite looking forward to another trip, myself.
Bishkek