I'm not a skater, nor am I ever likely to be. However if I was, I'd be off to The Pavilion at once.
The Royal Pavilion is home to an annual temporary ice rink. If you're thinking of coming, it costs £11 per 45 mins, or £9 if you're under 12.
But what a back-drop! The location is stunning, it must be the most beautiful ice rink in the UK.
I have only tried to ice skate once, and that was with just one skate. I very soon landed on my backside, and felt the pain for several weeks. I must have been about 7 or 8, our rink was a frozen river.
I notice that there is a Café/Bar for observers at The Pavilion; how very sensible.
I have a very long bucket list of things I never want to do; ice skating is very high up!
Newcastle Centre for Life has an outdoor ice rink each year, but cannot compare with Brighton's stunning backdrop. As it happens, my only experience of ice skating was at the Brighton ice rink some 50 years ago, I survived largely undamaged, but not sufficiently enthralled as to want to repeat the exercise. Not sure if that ice rink still exists?
ReplyDeleteNo, it doesn't. I did go there once but only as an observer.
DeleteIt does look very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI used to visit Richmond ice rink in West London every Saturday with my sister and cousin but never got the hang of staying upright.
After my initial experience, I kept well away from anything ice related.
DeleteIt looks magical. Definitely I'd love to watch but not to skate. I too tried it once, wouldn't let go of the outer railings.
ReplyDeleteI would have done too on my first experience, but there weren't any.
DeleteMe too, this is one of the many things I haven't done and won't do.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club!
DeleteHa-ha! A bucket list of things you DON'T want to do! I like it. Mine would include swimming with dolphins and shaking hands with Boris Johnson.
ReplyDeleteNow look here YP; people pay good money to shake Boris's hand. As for the Dolphins I agree with you; you can't even eat them!
DeleteIt looks beautiful. I skated in my youth but wouldn't consider it in later life when falls can take a lot of healing and we don't bounce back like when we were young.
ReplyDeleteCant the make soft, bouncy, ice? Someone's missing a trick.
DeleteThis looks almost magical... are you sure it isn't AI [tee-hee]... but that backdrop of the Brighton Pavilion is perfect for a skating rink!! Beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteI never tried skating... though I had opportunities.... because I couldn't rollerskate....
I had inherited in the '50s my uncle's rollerskates which were actually my maternal grandfather's skates from the very early 1900s...
They were a metal base with two leather straps... one for the ankle and one across the foot.... the skate was adjustable for length with a wingnut and had a toecap and heel stand.
They fitted reasonably well... but that wasn't the problem.... apart from the modern heel and toe stops not having been invented... the damn wheels wobbled... they were steel, spoked-wheel castings and there was no bearing and only the rivetted in place steel shaft to support them.... I never, ever stood unaided on the damned things... and after a badly twisted ankle from the ruddy things, I gave up all attempts at using them and went and built a lethal go-cart instead!! That also had wobbly wheels in its first incarnation... and we were on quite a hill with a narrow treelined pavement to use it on.... as I said, lethal!!
I had the exact same roller skates; lots of scuffed knees. My wife also bought some, a few years ago, at a Boot Sale for the grandsons. They wouldn't go near them.
Deletero.... a friend and I on that same pavement collected our scuffed knees.... trying to cycle our tricycles on two wheels by running the right rear wheel up a plank on a brick!! I still bear one of the scars!
DeleteWhat an amazing venue for Christmas ice skating. I was really good { even though I say it myself ! } at roller skating and used to go to Alexander Palace as a child where they had a roller skating rink.Being in North London, there wasn't an ice skating rink close enough to go { I think the nearest one was South London.} so it was roller skating for me. Not sure how I'd get on with ice skating ! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI did manage to stand up, and move along, on roller skates, but my standard remains a mystery. I can't remember being very expert on them.
DeleteBut ...watching with a hot toddy...now that's the trick!
ReplyDeleteIf I tried to skate, I would break something, probably what I would land on. That is a pretty setting.
ReplyDeleteYes, not for me either. I value my unbroken bones!
DeleteFor a moment I thought you'd popped off to Russia for the day Cro! What a wonderful place to skate.
ReplyDeleteI went ice skating regularly from about the age of 8 or 9 up until my mid teens. Then after I married, my husband thought he would like to learn to skate - after finding my skates packed away in a cupboard. We went regularly for a couple of years and then the ice rink closed, and that was that. I'm happy to say that I'm very unlikely to take it up again!
What a shame that it closed. The rink here in Brighton closed a long time ago, maybe skating isn't as popular as it once was.
DeleteThe ice rink looks fabulous. I'd be there in a heartbeat. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend's mother was an Olympic figure skater, and she taught her daughter and me to skate.
How wonderful. I love to watch professionals skating, they make it look effortless.
DeleteThere was an ice skating rink around when I was in college and we tried it. It was fun. I was never good, but didn't fall. My room-mate fell and broke her wrist. And yes, there are many things I love to watch on TV (Olympic sports and underwater adventures) that I would never try myself.
ReplyDeleteI became fascinated with diving after watching all those Cousteau films on TV. I've swum alongside Sharks and Baracudas, etc, and still have all my limbs.
DeleteAt first glance that photo looked like a Lowry painting, in my youth I played roller hockey for our local town.Ice skating was alright but I once made the mistake of wearing white trousers which became transparent when wet !
ReplyDeleteI would have needed to wear one of those inflatable Sumo wrestler's suits.
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