Thursdays . . .

are officially now my favourite night of the week.

At a cost of £3.50, I can now fill three hours of my thursday evenings with roller skating! YAY!

Last night I got home early from work, got changed, got my skates in my bag, and hitched a lift with the sis through what can officially be called rush hour traffic, and got dropped off outside the roller rink.

The last time I'd been inside was probably bang on eight years ago, on my first ever visit to Sheffield during sis's first year at uni. Apart from the outside of the rink getting a glamified makeover, the inside is pretty much the same as it was nearly a decade ago. It was an ice rink back then, but now the ice has gone, and it's literally just a roller rink.

Filled with some nerves at how truly retarded I may be on skates, I laced up and shuffled out onto the rink. Thank god it was dark! I thought I was going to stick out like a sore thumb with a comical bandage, but in actual fact I was possibly one of the more competent people there (on quad skates that is). Needless to say, I was soon outmaneouvered by a couple that I can confidently say belonged to the roller derby team. I plucked up the courage to pick up the pace, and was soon whipping round like nobody's business. Thinking about the list of things I was told to learn, I chose to go in at the deep end and try some crossovers. I can remember doing these on the driveway back home on my inlines a very long time ago. The only problem was that the corner i practiced on was right handed, and all rinks are left handed. 

Time to overcome the 'cant turn left' phase and go for it.

I managed one or two steps, and had a bit of a wobble, so carried on around the rink a few more times. I tried again later on, and managed a few steps. Thought to myself, ah, this maybe isnt so bad. I stopped at the side, and tried to relieve my 'fat hand syndrome' (where all the blood rushes into your mitts from all the arm swishing- is this a bad habit I need to stop?). I went around the rink a few more times, then joined in on the marked out derby track in the middle. I picked up the pace again, and went in for the 'kill' I managed a whole corner with crossovers and it was AMAZING! It was really smooth, and I picked up a lot of speed. I felt quite chuffed with my little self :o)

So the crowd of folks that were also skating varied quite a bit. There were your typical teenagers that obviously spent all their pocket money on going there, there was a kids birthday party. Lots of screaming 10 year old girls, insistent on going the wrong way round. Then there were the old timers that had no concept of speed and that if they hit a kid, that kid may just explode on impact. Then there were the quad pro's, the derby folks. A guy and girl just there practising different stops and having a lazy skate, and another girl joined in wearing a full derby 'boutfit' (as I've seen them called). Vest top and matching mini skirt (with polka dots and yellow frills), hot pants and a pretty bomb proof set of knee and elbow pads. They just pootled around, minding their own business, going sideways, doing fancy stops, fancy footwork, just generally looking very cool and putting me and my fat hands to shame.

Saying that, I didnt fall and I didnt make a tit of myself either, well not that i'm aware of anyway, despite the numerous arm flappings. I will most definitely be returning next week, maybe avec some extra padding?

I have recently become a Twitter convert, and on my return home I tweeted some of the girls, from the roller derby team, that I follow and told them about the fun I had. I'm quite happy to say that I got some very nice responses. There's a possibility that one of them may try and get to the session next week too, so hopefully I can get some tips from her. I'm pretty sure it'll be a big help to get some advice, plus it's another new person in the city and someone that I can talk to rather than skating in silence for the evening.

I called my parents and told them about my evening too. Dad tried to put a sensible outlook on it and said something along the lines of 'if it doesnt work out then i'm sure you'll find something else to join'. My response was 'no, i'm determined to make this happen'. There have been too many things that I've said I want to do and I've never done them, and I'm disappointed in myself. This is one thing I have the chance of doing, and I refuse to do a half assed job. It's not expensive, it's a great way to keep fit, and its the perfect way to make new friends. I may end up with a few bruises along the way, but if I keep a stock of arnica in the cupboard I'll be reet :o)