After hearing that one of Heidi’s friends (who is also 3) went ice skating, I thought that we would give it a go. As such, we went to the pop-up Ice Cube in Millennium Square, Leeds. After all, children are meant to pick up things really quickly…
Sometimes when writing a blog, it is easy to have a sense of escapism and paint a lovely picture of life and days out. This post is likely to re-address the balance somewhat!
She seemed really excited when I asked her if she wanted to go so, booked the tickets and toddled off down to Leeds to see if we could uncover the next Jane Torvill…
Doubts seemed to enter her mind as we saw the ice rink from the outside but maybe it was the lure of the fairground rides. Regardless, we picked up our tickets and went in to get changed. For both of us, it cost £9.50 combined, which didn’t seem like a bad deal at all…
This bit went well. She could stand up on the floor in the skates, they weren’t hurting her (well, she didn’t complain!). Getting the skates was relatively quick and easy as was putting them on. Then, it was skating time…
We were are the back of the queue to get on so we saw the eager/good skaters start whizzing round and as we got to the ice, we picked up our penguin (£1 on a first come first served basis), and we were on our way…
However…
The enthusiasm of an hour ago had been replaced by sheer panic! Now, I am not a skater, but I was managing to push her while holding onto the side. We were making slow progress, but her head wasn’t in the right place and there were tears, lots of tears! Confidence just evaporated away and the rink was too busy and too noisy for a 3 year old who wanted to be anywhere else in the world! We weren’t alone in that respect as a fair few children were crying and the adults were struggling to stay upright!
I managed to get us huddled into the corner of the rink to try and calmed down but I knew the game was over. However, we were stuck! We either had to skate against the tide of fellow hapless skaters or skate all the way round the ice to get to the exit!
After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, frantic waving and crying, we managed to get a marshal to help us skate against the tide and get off. We left our penguin behind, presumably traumatised by the whole experience!
All in all, the actual skating took about 2 minutes, we went probably 10 yards. This was perhaps the first, last and only time we will ever grace the ice. My hopes for a daddy/daughter version of Bolero at the Winter Olympics are now shattered. However, I can say that we have given it a go! Bring on the summer!!!!
UPDATE: We did go ice skating again, albeit not at the Ice Cube, which you can read about here.
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Oh no! And it all started so well… haha! Some days are just like this! I bet by next year you’ve forgotten all about it and you’re on the ice again! Thanks for linking up with #YorkshireFamily