Time for my first Skating Rant

Right, I'm sorry it's come to this, but I need to rant a little bit. 

I went for a practice yesterday, because apparently there are a fair few adults who go on a Friday for lessons, and I want to make some skating friends. 

So, I get to the rink, pay my money, and the lady on the desk says, "Oh, by the way, there's a party of 20 school kids coming in a bit".

Oh joy. If they were 5, all cute and tottering about on the ice, that'd be fine, because I could avoid them easily.

No, dear reader, they weren't 5, they were teenagers. They were out of control, skating at warp speed without a care in the world, showing off and generally being annoying. But, you learn to live with these things and I practiced what I could.

All good, til one of them crashed into me. He was going backwards, I was going forwards in front of him, or is that behind him, I dunno, but we couldn't see each other. He bumped into me, and knocked me off my feet, I landed hard on my right elbow.

It really hurt, I seriously thought I'd broken it, but I could move it, and after a poke about by my  first aid trained coach, I went home to soak in a nice bath.

So, my rant is this, can we PLEASE have some order on the ice?! My rules for the rink:

1. Skate anti-clockwise, and don't skate against the flow of traffic.
2. Don't skate backwards, even if you are following the flow of traffic, unless it's quiet. You can't see people, they can't see you, it's a bad plan.
3. Control is everything - don't go tearing round the ice if you can't stop.
4. If you're a skater who can do a bit more on the ice, do take care. A busy session is not the time to go spinning and jumping, especially, if like me, your rink is tiny.
5. Just, take care in general. Look out for each other, don't do anything stupid and everyone will have a great time. 
6. Accidents do happen, I understand that. If you do take someone out, make sure they're OK, offer them a hand up, and apologize. The lad who hit me, did do this, so for that I am grateful. 

So yeah, please, please, please can everyone look out for each other? I nearly had 6 weeks minimum no skating, was so lucky my elbow is just bruised. 

Take care and skate safe, everyone!