Last week I was invited to go skating at Westfield.

As a Canadian I love skating. Even though it rarely got cold enough to skate outside in Vancouver, every weekend my Dad would take us to Kerrisdale Arena for a family skate with my friends. We’d circle the ice rink for an hour, then take a break in the stands usually eating a fruit rollup or Dad’s cookies, and then get back out there (skating in in the opposite direction obviously) for another hour or so.

Every year we’ve lived in London we’ve gone to Somerset House for a Christmas skate too. Convincing British people to actually skate and not just sit in the tent and drink Baileys hot chocolate is the hardest part of the night.

Alex and I went out to Westfield (http://uk.westfield.com/london/) after work one day last week, grabbed a quick Nandos for energy and then hit the ice rink. Well, the slightly icey-plastic surface that most indoor rinks have now. It was fine but not the same as a fresh sheet of ice. I’m not sure they even had a zamboni. It was fun to do a few laps around the rink, but to be honest people were going in every direction and falling all over the place. There didn’t seem to be much being done by the rink attendants to keep any form of organisation. I don’t need an organised hockey game or figure skating lesson, but it’s no fun when you’re constantly dodging people coming flying at you with their blades up.  The ice surface too was really bumpy and hard to skate on.  After a few laps we called it a night and stopped at the Lego store to build our own lego man Christmas ornaments.

If you’re keen to try some skating and don’t have Canada nearby, then check out Westfield’s ice rink open daily until 4th January.

Westfield invited me to try the ice rink and covered the cost of a skating ticket
for myself and Alex. I was also given a gift card for writing this blog.