Strap on some blades and prepare to carve up the ice, because winter is here and ice skating is the rage in London this festive season. But if you are like me, and the idea of gliding around on knives on stuff that’s colder than any Free State winters morning that you’ve ever experienced, sends shivers down your spine, it’s time to suck it up boet – Ice Skating is something you need to experience. With a multitude of different ice skating rinks in the Central London area and the O2 even being transformed into Ski Slopes, the opportunities are right at your doorstep. But before you take your carving knife out of the block, there are a few things you need to know about ice skating. The origins of skates come from the Finnish people of 4000 years ago, according to some Oxford Professor. But most people believe it to be from Scandinavia and from 1000 BC. A good 1000 years in between, but who’s counting? The original skates were pieces of flattened bone that were strapped to the bottom of the feet but those ever industrious Dutch pioneered the steel blade-like design we know today. This brought along an important part of ice skating. The bone skates would glide over the ice, but the steel skates had the ability to cut into the ice, making it possible to reach some exciting speeds. Secondly, the cold stuff. Those clever blokes in white coats (most probably ski-jackets, though) have found, through arduous testing, that the ideal temperature for optimum speeds in ice skating, i.e., the minimum kinetic friction between the skate and the ice, is -7°C (-19°F for those who still refuse to embrace the metric system). Modern Ice rinks are setting their temperatures around that mark, so that simply means it is really freakin freezing. But enough about the technical specifications of it, Ice skating is an activity that can be enjoyed by everyone with working hips and knees, so enjoy the thrill of gliding almost effortlessly along the ice and even end up doing some jumps, spins or flips, if you feel brave enough to attempt it. From the Tower of London to Greenwich, from Windsor to Canary Wharf, ice skating season is upon us with all rinks open from November till January 2009 and prices as low as £8 per adult including skate hire, there is more than enough reason for this Free State boytjie to ignore his aversion towards the cold stuff and try it out himself. Bring on the boots!