Today I couldn't fight not going skating any longer and went to the public session. What a complete nightmare.

It wasn't particularly busy there, however it was full of morons. There was parents practically dragging little kids around by their shoulders (legs going in all directions), loads of hockey skates going as fast as possible and doing scuffs and, probably worst, a little girl of about 6 in the centre circle obviously rehearsing something or other doing spins and going backwards which really shouldn't have been going on when it was that busy! It was the most terrifying experience I have ever had there!! I think that there must have been a few accidents too as there were three patches cordoned off which were really wet, as if they had been cleaned.

There was also a group of boys running up and down the concrete steps to the seats in skates No wonder that hire skates are so bad.

In the end I, now I know I shouldn't have so no telling me off, I stayed in one of the corners and just practised going up and down. I did wait until no-one was coming when I went against the flow. I had to do something!! By now the rink had been opened for 3 hours and the ice was in desperate need of a cut. I am not used to skating on ice that bad, as I usually only go on coned off ice.

All that for £6, which is more than my group lesson cost! And when I went to dry off skates afterwards, I am quite particular about them, there was no benches because there was a load of teenagers having hotdogs out there!!

Still it was an experience, and one which I have to get used to I guess.

well, this is public ice so it shouldnt come as a surprise. I guess you could work on stroking.

Actually, on busy public ice, sometimes the corners are the safest place to be, because the 'circlers' tend to cut them off by a wide margin. They'll cut through the center, but they'll leave the corners alone. So while it's not "technically" what you should do (especially going against the flow), often there's no real 'flow' to go against out there, so you're pretty safe. You only have to look out for the wall hangers.

Yeah. Christmas break public ice is almost never a good idea.

woah, this brings back bad memories of the rink I just recently went to. almost the exact same experience except it was outside, you couldn't go in the middle, and little girls would peek through the bathrooms stalls every 3 seconds... *shivers* I hate public sessions on breaks.

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Happens to me every time - I'm stuck going at the weekend when everyone else who is restricted by school ends up going. And I'm at the sort of stage where I guess I look confident enough for people to assume I'll be able to avoid them, but not good enough that people leave me space to practice. I suppose we just have to live with it...

I avoid weekends like the plague! I have seen them when I have been to the shop.

Luckily evenings seem to work well most of the time.