Winter Olympics, here I come!... Okay, maybe not.

Today I had a rare opportunity to go ice skating. I say rare because we don't live very close to an ice rink, so it's a bit expensive to go out to it for just a couple hours at a time. Luckily, today, we were in the area anyway, and my other half suggested we go. He doesn't skate, but it meant the rest of the family could have a chat while my munchkin and I took to the ice.

I used to do a lot of ice skating when I was younger. I even did some figure skating competitions when I was younger. I loved jumps, was a bit rubbish at spins, and really hating working on my edges. (That last one only makes sense to other skaters, sorry!) But I had an injury, which meant I had to stop skating for several months. I didn't properly recover from that injury, and I found myself enjoying skating far less when I finally went back to it, and so I stopped permanently.

That was so long ago, that nowadays I have been having moments where I really missed it. I missed being on the ice, if not the hours of practise every morning at oh-my-god-o'clock. I missed the feeling when I finally got a trick right, if not the hours spent getting it wrong and landing bum first on the rink. I missed the good stuff.

So today was kind of like getting some of that good stuff back. Getting on the ice, at first, was like learning to skate all over again. I had terrible balance, and nearly fell several times as I had to remember where to keep my weight on the skate blades. I finally got my footing back skating forward - then tried to turn around and go backward, as my muscle memory was nagging me to do. And I nearly fell on my face, in the middle of a public skate session.

I spent the whole of the session either regaining my own forgotten skating skills, or helping my kid learn his way around an ice rink. It was his first time, and watching him grin when he was able to move over the ice at a very slow shuffle was amazing. We both had a great time, and were both completely exhausted by the end of it. I'm fairly certain we'll be looking to repeat the experience soon.

I'm also fairly sure that, by tomorrow and the day after, my legs will decide that they will never, ever forgive me for this...