Condom On Ice!

It sounds painful doesn’t it!

It’s not really about ice and condoms, but about a small, artificial ice rink set up in our local town, which just happens to be called Condom.
The name of the town gives no end of amusement to tourists, and there must be literally millions of photographs of people standing next to the sign with silly grins on their faces!

Anyway, last year – oh no, the year before last now – they had this plastic ice rink in Condom and I took Isla there. I was delighted to see that it was there again this year (last year?) so I took Isla and her friend L.

I had arranged to meet a friend there at 3pm on New Year’s Eve, but when we arrived they didn’t have any boots of the right size for Isla and L, so we had to wait a while. Their names were written on the list and we were told to come back in about an hour. I had Champers (one of my Labradors) with us, so we got her out of the car, put her on the lead and had a little walk around Condom. I had to go to the tabac, where I was some sweeties that I used to have when I was little – Snap Crackles, so I bought the girls one each. We walked sort of around the block, and came back towards the ice rink. There was a ride there which was a sort of bouncy caste that went round and round, so I let the girls go on that too, as we still had some time to kill! They loved it, and came off with wobbly legs!
We got back to the rink, and the girls still had to wait for a while, until other kids with the right sized feet came off! It wasn’t too long until Isla got some boots, as her feet are a bit bigger than L’s, but it took ages to get boots for L. While we were waiting, I was standing around waiting with Champers, and loads of kids came up to talk to her, and fell in love with her! There’s nothing quite like a Labrador!

L eventually got some boots, and went on and they had a brilliant time together. Isla has only ever skated on this plastic stuff and on rollerblades, but L has skated on proper ice, and was a lot better than Isla! Isla fell over 5 times!
They were on for probably about an hour, and had a blast!Hopefully it’ll be back next year – if I’m still here! If not, I’ll take her to a proper ice rink! Dumfries Ice Bowl here I come!

Speaking of which, my friends were celebrating Hogmanay in my favourite pub of my misspent youth, and even texted me to inform me of the fact! I was there in spirit though, because when I went to bed I dreamt I was there with them!

I hope you all had a good Hogmanay, and the 2009 will bring you everything you want and deserve!