The skating rink, then and now

When I was very small, when I was still wearing bob skates

 

(do you remember bob skates??)

………..and before I was allowed to go skating at the big Alberta Avenue Rink , my father built a skating rink in our backyard that attracted all the other small children in the neighbourhood, and that is where I learned to skate.

In the evening he would water the closed in area with a hose, and during the calm, cold prairie night it would freeze into a lovely smooth icy surface.  After a few nights of hose work the skating rink was ready for all the little bob skating types and we would have a perfectly lovely time!

 

 

Fast forward about 85 years and you will find the same thing happening on a much larger scale.

Somebody up there is giving the village a real hosing, – (it rains)

 all up and down the streets and back lanes and in the parking lots,

 and during the night the temperature doesn’t really plummet,
 but it gets low enough to make it terribly hazardous for all those old people
who threw away their bob skates

when they got old enough to tie the laces on their single blades.

Ah well,  I have my cane with the spiked end

 and my ankles really aren’t up to skating any more.

P.S.  Many thanks to Morning’s Minion who reminded me about Windows Live Writer, which just works like a charm if you are having trouble with Blogger.