RIVERGIRL: books, blog and barges: My posts are mini-memoirs about about life on a barge, our travels and the Netherlands. Oh and sometimes about my writing.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
The Dutch do it on Ice
While the rest of Europe dives for cover and refuge from the snow, the Dutch gleefully take to the ice. I really love the joy with which all Nederlanders, great and small, relish this national sport. They positively rub their hands with anticipation waiting for the temperatures to drop. The ice has apparently to be 12cm's thick before it is considered safe enough for skating, and yesterday, the pronouncement all cloggies have been waiting for was made. So whoopee!! Off they went today to Henschoter lake, near Utrecht. The picture below was taken from this article where I found the story. I'm no skater myself, but I'm looking forward to watching some soon.
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I was just thinking about skating in NL yesterday!
ReplyDeleteYou must take it up, Val, as it's so much fun!
I'm not much of a skater myself, but I am itching to get out on the lake and wobble along the "Whiteway". It's a plowed trail that follows the circumfrence of the lake - twenty-two kms long. It goes right by my house.
If you get a chance, take some pics, Val!
xx
Have you learned to skate yet? My mother actually taught herself using the local rink across the street when we were teenagers. She had turned 45, which I did and still find impressive because being just a bit older, I don't actually think I'd get the nerve up for it now.
ReplyDeleteCanadians love their skates and their canoes. :)
xx
AM
Skating on the ice of the frozen sea or big lakes is really enjoyable. But the situation here is that the snow atop of the ice is now knee deep. So no skating here. :(
ReplyDelete-25 C when I left for my job this morning.
By bike... :)
We're waiting for 'Elf Steden Tog' to happen. If it does I think my whole girlfriends family will be going to watch. It would be amazing to see.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for them to come past Snail anytime now......
ReplyDeleteI have skated on thin ice many a time ;) yet only twice on a rink in my youth and falling over with my companion was the nicest part, did I hear tut' tut' - I'll go bye for now x
ReplyDeleteDale, I'd quite like to learn, but by the time I actually have the time, the ice will have gone. Murphy's law! I don't really fancy it indoors. I'll certainly take some pics if I see them at it this weekend. the big freeze is set to continue for another week at least.
ReplyDeleteAnne Marie, your mother, like mine, had to have something you could admire about her, no? Hee hee. Still, she was plucky wasn't she?
Hans, cycling in -25 degrees sounds like certifiable lunacy to me, but I know that could never be said about you, nooooo ;-) knee deep, hey? Apparently it's like that in England too!
Stu, I hope you see lots of elves...tell me what they look like in the cities ;-)
Anne, they're going to whizz past you and crash into each other at the end, else you'll see them whizzing back again. How are things in Lokerfreeze. It's a bit cold here on the icebarges.
Mr H, skating on thin ice can be fun too, although not when the ice is breaking behind you as you go...so to speak ;-) Still, if you've enjoyed the falls, then the risks are sometimes worth it..hehe.
Like you my roots are in France, our lot came to Britland in 1066 and were granted lands etc for our efforts. must have liked it to have stayed for so long, but enough, I wish to return to southern France where I feel at home, plus it is a bit warmer. As for doing it on ice..... No... I will leave it to my Dutch friends who seem to love skating from Ijmuiden to Amdam and even further. Makes me shiver just thinking about it
ReplyDeleteForgot the most important thing..............Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteI am not an ice or cold person either. I have skiied, and ice skated, skiing was alot of fun, just too cold for me. Maybe I am aging, and want to be warm and comfy now. :)
ReplyDeleteI responded to your comment on my blog, i remember your help,(i posted that there even before you commented :) ) I have not forgotten, you have been a little gremlin in the back of my head, poking me to follow through!!:) I hear you, I hear you
Ah, skating is certainly a Dutch thing that Canadians have taken up quite nicely. Not only in our sports but also for fun. When Dale and I were kids we used to spend many Christmas holidays at our Grandparent's country place that had three ponds. We'd always shovel one of the ponds off and that's where we learned to skate (but not very well as we preferred skiing).
ReplyDeleteLater in life when I lived and went to school and then worked in Ottawa, I used to skate with friends along the world's longest skating rink - The Rideau Canal. It was mostly there that I felt really akin to the dutch.
hans I WANT YOUR BIKE
ReplyDeleteI never learned to skate. Frankly, never had skates as a child. This makes me a very odd Canadian I suppose. But I think there might just be a skater in me though, itching... er... gliding to get out!
ReplyDeleteI might have spelled that slightly wrong :p
ReplyDeleteLiving in CA it was rollar skates or ice rinks for us! I am no good at it now, too many years of desert living. But I can still rollar skate!
ReplyDeleteHi Val,
ReplyDeleteice skating is great. I love it, but since some years I have no skaters. I remember an old postcard (black and white picture) from Dutch-country with people skating on the town canals (Grachten).
Take Koos at your hand and buy skaters and go on the town canals.
It is funny!!! Make some pics.
Love
Stefan
Living in Australia the only ice skating I ever did was in a rink :) but I did it religiously -every weekend whilst attending High School :) Loved it
ReplyDeleteand Hans " -25 C when I left for my job this morning.
By bike... :)"
You deserve a medal ;)
I do it WITH ice rather than on it. Gin and tonic please Vally - Bombay Sapphire for preference.
ReplyDeleteActually, I can skate, but I can't surf. Makes me a fairly pathetic excuse for an Australian.
Oh - I see you now have a new Antipodean follower! Well I can't blame you for replacing me after all this time. I bet she can surf too. O the shame ...
Missed you Sooo much.
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Hey, Anonymous - I love a man with a good sense of prose. I am in awe. Please visit my blog!
ReplyDeleteMARGIE!!!! I know we've just had email communication but I'm feeling quite weepy about seeing you here.
ReplyDeleteIt's the first time too I've ever kept a spam comment...just for you.
Don't go away for so long again, pleeeeeeease! At least I see you haven't lost that inimitable Marige sparkle...I shall relish it for days. After all, each comment is a small treasure to be savoured. Thanks fo coming back dearest Marige xxx
DITTO!
ReplyDeletexo
Hey ma, I can't find your book anymore...??
ReplyDeleteJust think Spring is really just around the corner Val, it is!
ReplyDeleteI guess there is no chance of seeing any elves now the ice has gone away :(
ReplyDeleteStill, it means we have to arrange meeting up again sometime soon :)
Hoe zijn u
ReplyDelete