Ice! Ice? Maybe

As it was the last day of the holidays (well, another one of those teacher-extra-holidays they insist on) we got up at a very gentlemanly 11am.

This didn't leave much time for food or getting ready so by the time I'd had breakfast and left the house, I was technically 1 meal behind the rest of the world. But then I often feel like that.

Jof ditched me at the JB's house and the fun began. On one of my favourite 11 1/2 mile bike rides down the disused railway linking Fareham and Gosport is "The Sailmakers", the pub where we have lunch. Visible from the car park of said hostelry is the Gosport Ice Rink which is one of those things you hear about but can't quite believe it still exists, like dog racing or church.

But this place was very real and Johnny had been ice-skated in the leg by a tumbling skater only a month ago and wanted to get back out there and twizzle, jump and spin. We hired some very clunky and amusing boots and hit the ice.

In fact, I hit the ice at least 6 times but slowly I graduated from holding-onto-the-side to holding-onto-Cal's-hand and from there to freeform skittering and only a few more plunges. I was too tall to hire one of the penguins (safety aid to hang onto for dear life) but that encouraged me to try and I wasn't as good as the boys but I was better than last time (2010). My bottom really hurt after one pratfall and she said you've landed on your coccyx but I said no, it was definitely my bum.

So we all had wet trousers from the plummeting and many other people were there and some of them skated around backwards and one tried a front-flip and landed on his head. Outside is the mini-assault course park I always complete on bike rides so we sat in the baby-bucket swings and the unidirectional swinging basket and assaulted the course.

Back at theirs we built some Lego Heroes and had a light sabre fight and then Ben joined in which only made it better until Bud arrived to take me home and that's when I remembered about being one meal down without a lifebelt and ate a whole quiche just before supper, which I also finished. It was all epic and why can't we have these holidays all over again, just saying.

Later, I taught Jof to play Minecraft on the X-box. She flew, destroyed blocks, tamed a horse, sheep and pig, and wandered through villages, because she is a cool mummy.