porridge and ice

Last week, I forget when exactly, I made polenta porridge (better known as Miele Pap in South Africa) for myself and the whippets. While I was waiting for it to cook on a slow heat with the lid on the pot, the porridge would plop loudly against the lid - like boiling mud or lava. Alula thought it was a very strange sound and she clearly didn't approve. She stood near the kitchen door and every time the porridge plopped she would bark at the pot and then look at me worriedly. It was very funny.

Alula, the original Wacky Whippet

Last weekend, on Sunday, we decided it was time to get our ice skates wet again (what with the winter sport season here and all), and so we drove to Mainz where our nearest ice rink is. It was great! The rink has been sold to the local council and they are slowly revamping the place (it is 30 or 40 years old), which meant that there were hardly any people around. It's a bit of a dump at the moment and the bistro is closed so no refreshments are to be had for a while. So what? We go there to skate.

Our skates

There were three or four 'clubbers' - women belonging to the figure skating club - taking up way too much space with their silly twirlies and crap, a dad with his little son, another dad with his wailing daughter (kids like that annoy me when they give up before they have even given themselves half a chance), and a middle aged man who is a brilliant skater (ex hockey player no doubt, and we see him whenever we go there), two other good skaters, another couple and us! How brilliant is that!!?? Space to muck about and practice old and almost forgotten skills.

We had such a laugh. Mr Fluff fell on his arse once and he went for a slide or two. Don't worry he didn't hurt himself (not like last year when I slid forwards and fell like a sack of cement onto my knees) - it was just very funny and we giggled most of the morning. I screeched loud enough for the whole place to hear me a few times (as always) when my skates didn't do as they were told, because they need sharpening and didn't grip the ice very well. Mr Fluff said a bad workman always blames his tools, but the skates do need sharpening. Honest! Nothing to do with my rusty skating abilities.

By the time we left more parents and kids were arriving.
I miss the days when I used to go to the ice rink every weekend and spend all day there, but it is so great that we were able to take it up again in Germany, where it is a popular activity that all ages participate in, and wherever we may end up for the rest of our happy lives, we intend to keep on ice skating right up to the day they forcefully remove us from the ice because walking aids are not permitted. (and that applies double to snowboarding!!)