Not daunted by the obviously expert skaters already on the pond with sticks and puck we booted up. The great thing about exercise is that people who can do it are usually only too happy to help those who can't, and this was no exception.
Once the people on the rink knew we were completely green they offered advice, from "are your boots tight enough?", to "go down the steps to the ice sideways in your skates".
One guy, who later said he'd been skating since the age of 4, had clocked up 68 years on skates, and gave us some tuition, like how to move, how to turn a corner and of course how to stop.
After 10 minutes or so I skated around to face my other half only to find him lying on the ice, looking pained. Having cracked his head hard on the ice when he went down he wasn't in a hurry to get up, stating that his arms and legs went numb then tingly for a few seconds. Not good.
Deciding that skating was over for the day he made his way back to the benches, where the very concerned other skaters crowded round, and one even insisted on taking his skates off for him. Seeing blood it was decided that A&E was the best place to go immediately.
So after 10 minutes of skating 2 hours of checking out was done, then another hour to put 6 stitches into two head wounds. 3 hours later he walked out of A&E with his toque (Canadian hat) firmly covering the rather unfetching bandage around his head.
Okay, so by now you've probably worked out the missing bit of equipment. And if you read "
Cross-training is good for the body and the soul..." then you'll know that sometimes having poorly prepared equipment is as bad as having no equipment at all.
And my other half? Well he says that neither of us will ever skate again without helmets, learn to skate that is I hope.
