Lifelong skater Jan Aasland sees Londoners getting their skates on.
White men can’t jump. And the English can’t skate; not according to stereotype, anyway. But with ice rinks racking up all over London – in Hyde Park (Winter Wonderland), at Somerset House and Westfield Stratford, to name but a few, it seems that more Anglos are finally getting a taste for the ice (even if they haven’t quite got the hang of it, yet).
On the Saturday before Christmas, everyone round the Westfield rink was having a great time. Mary Smith (38) had brought her two kids, Allen (8) and Louise (5). ‘I like to get the kids out of the house, especially during weekends,’ she explained, adding: ‘Skating is something new for them, it’s good for them and I think they are having fun as well. Overall, this is the perfect place for them to be.’
Countries where skating is part of the way of life generally produce the best figure skaters and ice hockey teams; hence the overall strength of Scandinavian nations in these sports. Judging by what was going on round the Westfield rink, England still has a long way to go! But the more we start to enjoy skating, the better the chances of building stronger teams in the future. ‘Maybe my son can be London’s first big ice hockey star’, mused proud parent Steve Johnson (46). ‘We’ll need someone to look up to in order for the game to catch on here!’ He added, with a laugh: ‘I haven’t watched ice hockey or any thing like that before, but I am really enjoying myself here and it seems like my kids are having fun as well.’
With the lights of the Olympic Park illuminating the Westfield rink, it seems that London is warming to winter games as well as track and field.