Blood on the Ice

Well, my blister didn't cause me any issues last night at all. The bandaid cushioned it nicely.

However, it was 'fall down day' at the rink. I've not seen so many people take a dive since a world championship wrestling match. The night started out innocuously enough; I was very cold so I felt a little wobbly on my skates. I decided to just skate simply for a while until I warmed up, and not to try anything tricky for a while. About 5 minutes into the session a newbie to the left of me loses control and splats on the ice like a sack of spuds. He lands flat on his back and his head almost touches. He is very dazed. Me and a few others skate over to help him out and he's really out of it. We lift him and skate him over to the barrier and he's okay but shaken and dizzy. Later in the night I see him skating again fine.

Then about 10 minutes after that a 10 year old boy goes down near a group of his buddies. He smacks his head on the ice really hard, right above his left eye. It opens up immediately and blood pours out on to the ice and down his face. Anna helps him off the ice and he gets some help from the guys who run the rink. He looks badly shaken and very woozy. That's the worst I've seen on the ice since I've started. He left a trail of blood over the ice which a staff member attempts to shovel away. It's quite eerie skating past the blood drops for the rest of the night. A little reminder to be careful.

For the rest of the evening I see people going down pretty hard -- more falls than I've ever seen in one session. There's nothing especially wrong with the ice... it's pretty smooth and the only bumps are near the outside edges. It's just a 'fall down day'! One dude was obviously trying to do a cool hockey stop (a two foot skid stop) into the corner, as he raced past me at a million miles an hour. I was a little concerned as I knew the ice was roughest in that corner -- I'd done some stops there and it was the bumpiest in the rink. He starts his skid and his skates catch on a bump and he flips forward on to his knees, his head flying towards the solid barrier. He manages to throw his arms out in the nick of time and soften the blow, but his head still hits the barrier just before the rest of his body smacks into it loudly. I skate over to him to make sure he's okay. He seems fine, just a bit shaken up. I told him he was pretty lucky 'cos I thought he was gonna put his head right through the wall!

I succumbed to 'fall down day' a few times as well. Near the end of the session I noticed my feet were getting tired, and my ankles were starting to roll (I had played an hour of squash before skating), so I decided to practise my spins in a corner. I did some okay spins, and some shockers. Fell over a few times, but at that speed it didn't hurt at all.

Anna, Michelle and Pat were there practising tonight, but Georgina was still missing. It's very odd. She's normally there for sure. Hopefully she'll be there this weekend so I can find out what's going on.

My skating was pretty average overall, probably because I was feeling the cold. I don't think I made any progress, but at least I kept my basic level of skill alive by skating during the week. If I only skated on the weekends I fear I'd never get anywhere.

I hope that little kid's okay.