Stories
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
There are no rules. Since one has unlimited space one can skate as fast as one wants without having to constantly slow down, skate in a single direction, always skate in a circle and continually dodge others. Another big advantage is skating at night. One could skate in complete darkness with no lights. Skating with no lights and unlimited space meant that it felt like flying, and that every aspect
of the experience was natural, the sky overhead, the stars, moonlight, the shadows. The two big disadvantages were of course wind and snow.
Every year was different. Some years might have a month of skating. One year was probably just a few days. Some years the ice might melt after it was frozen so that big puddles of water formed on the surface. The re-freeze might be less than satisfactory leaving big white air bubbles trapped between the old and new ice so that skates could penetrate and cause a fall. Of course we would try to skate no matter what the conditions except for more than an inch of snow.
Even that was not impossible if it was soft and did not have a hard crust. Sometime we would skate on the channels even though the lake was still open or unfrozen. Some places the ice was thinner than in others. One time I was skating pretty fast down the channel towards town, and my skates began to slit through the ice on each stroke.
(5 of 12)
Next Page
