Winter in the city

Winter has come to Canberra with a vengeance.  It has been cold, windy, sleeting, cold, sunny, windy, cold... You get the picture.  But not winter as some people know it.  No snow, no frozen rivers, no ice, no outdoor iceskating... but wait!  Our civic leaders have decided that Canberra should have outdoor iceskating in winter.  Welcome to Skate in the City!!  (Of course, when I first saw it advertised, I assumed it had more to do with young men with their caps on backwards doing tricky jumps on boards with wheels.)  There is an outdoor ice rink in Garema Place for three weeks in July.  Courtesy of our local ABC radio station and four free tickets, we went along to check it out.

For me, ice skating is right up there with horse riding.  One of those things where the concept far outweighs the reality.

However, the children love it and they thoroughly enjoyed sliding around the ice (gliding would be slightly too generous to describe the way Stephanie proceeds on skates) with twinkling fairy lights in the trees and dubious German music in the background.

They tell me it was fun.  I managed to make my way around the rink with no mishaps, one hand firmly on the barrier at all times.  But I guess childhood is made of memories such as this, and I hope this one will stick with them for a while.  (Kudos to Aunt Bink, who stayed out there on the ice with them the whole time and only hit the deck twice.  Mind you, the penguin might have helped!)