Slowly cranking back to life

 I haven't posted to this blog since the  10th of May, back in 2019.  In part this is due to the pandemic and in part due to me not really having much progress or novel observations to report.  At the beginning of the pandemic, my ice rink, like many others was completely shut down.  Some rinks were used as temporary morgues.  Ours was in that list but never used for that purpose.  As masks and distancing proved effective and as vaccines were more readily available, the skating world came back to life.  And so did your old diarist.  

The present: as of this date, we are still required to wear masks inside the rink but coached lessons and group lessons, various types of sessions and hockey games have been on-going for quite some time.  I picked back up with my long suffering Coach A., and as our rink was to mark its 50th year of service to the community, we were asked to be part of the skating gala to mark the date, 3rd Dec. 1971- 3rd Dec 2021.

 But what to do?  If anything my skating had declined over the pandemic.  I was a much better skater 3 years ago when I passed the Cha-Cha than back in this summer when asked to perform.  Coach A. suggested that we revisit the Cha-Cha as a doable goal for December.  And so we did.  I'm glad we started in summer because it took an age for me to crank it back up to a test worthy quality level. 

Last night was the big do and we were second skaters on the bill.  We were introduced as we skated out and almost before I was ready, the music came blaring out of the speakers.  The intro steps, two patterns of the dance, exit steps and bows to the audience took all of a minute and 18 seconds.  I have had better skates of this dance in practice--blew a couple steps, doubt if most of the  on-lookers caught that.  But I was happy to do my part.

My advice to geezer Ice Dancers is to always partner with a strong and attractive young woman.  In ice dance, 99% of the crowd is watching the female skater.  As long as the male skater stays sunny side up the pair will achieve their goal.  Photo credit:  Bowie Ice Arena.

"Cheers to 50 Years!"