I remember....

Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by siebe.

I remember skating on the canal in Assen, with my brothers or my dad. With proper ice and wind conditions you can go faster than a bike, faster than the wind, faster than your thoughts. The rythmic sound of the scratching of the skates, the icy breaths frosting on your scarf.

Until you hit that soft spot. :-)

I remember my dad (and me? or me?) skating on a canal in the middle of farm country in Drenthe, in total solitude, finding ourselves on ice that didn't hold our weight. I think it was next to a lock or a bridge. In my memory, I see my dad holding himself up on his elbows, his body had disappeared under the ice. He got himself out... but we were miles and miles away from anybody and from the car.
We skated as fast as we could back to the car, a good 15 minutes, soaking wet in freezing temperatures. There were no cellphones then. We could see farms on either side of the canal - but how to get there? Walking on skates isn't easy, and they looked closer than they actually were. Besides. Walking would break the skates, and can't have that.

I remember climbing into the car with our skates on - they were frozen solid and we couldn't take them off. Even once we switched the engine on, it took a while before the laces melted sufficiently to take the skates off so dad could drive. It took even longer for us to warm up again.

It felt like an adventure, it felt exhilarating, I thought it funny. In hindsight, being a parent now... I wonder how my dad remembers this.

We would go skating on the lakes, forty or sixty kilometers. We would eat hot green pea soup and drink hot chocolate bought from vendor stalls on the ice. Warming our hands on the heat seeping through the cup.