iceskating

watching the news on dutch tv tonight. oh dear, there is a fever going on in holland. with the biggest concentration up north, in friesland. people are getting ready to go. sitting at kitchentables covered with newspapers, a rag in hand and some grease in a tin. preparations. this time it is true. there will be iceskating on natural ice. the best thing there can be. so get your skates ready, we are off. something i so miss where i live. i recall my childhood, outside the hague. after elementary school, in the months of december and january, we would run home and pick up our skates and go out as fast as possibile. we would be skating on small ditches and man made lakes until after dark. never wanting to go home, even with feet frozen off. it was the best time of the year. growing older, we would skate where ever the frozen water would bring us and at the end of the day we would catch a bus or train to take us back home. it was always a big adventure. where would we go, and the most important question...would the ice hold us? we were used to listen to the ice to squeak. we would know how fast a tear would rip thru the ice from the rumble and know if we would be safe. stamping on the solid floor "clonk, clonk" ... yes, this is thick enough. riding against the wind, in a geese mars, so the first would become the last every so often to have a break . with a newspaper under your sweater to keep in the heat and the cold out. there would be stalls with 'koek en zopie' in strategic points, where you could heat up a bit with some hot chocolate and cookies. i was so lucky to grow up in a time where there was no doubt about it that one could skate every winter. the last years i have been following what is going on in holland. happy people, sad people, waiting, measuring, ice thick enough, ice not thick enough, elfstedentocht(11-city tour 220 km in friesland) or an alternative somewhere in sweden. i wish the old days with cold weather would come back, it was so great. no one should miss out on this experience.