WHAT fun folk hed at the ice rink at the weekend, did ee sei eet? Thone was a grand idea wun't eet? It seemed ti be right popular wi young yins an' auld yins alike. Oo hed oor ain miniature ice skatin' rink in the heart o' Hawick juist like ee sei in the picturs.
An' judgin fri the smiles on the faces, folk fair enjoyed eet, whether they were on their feet or on their hint end, which is where A wad've been if A'd been brave enough ti tried.
A hev been on the ice in ma day, bit no for a lang time (an' be t
hat A mean twae hings, a hevni din't for a lang time, an' a wasni on the ice for a lang time!) A din't at Kelsae an' in Edinburgh years ago, an' aye, A was on ma hint end mare es A was on ma feet.
Somebody was tellin' mei that ice skatin' gauns back thoosants o' years. A niver kent that. Appairently folk in Scandinavia yist ti yaise the shin bones o' animals, strap thum onti their feet an' skate across the ice.
Bit they tell mei it was a Scotsman whae inventeed the first metal skates, made o' iron, though A'v seen eet crediteed ti the Dutch ana, an' nae doobt it'll be claimed be ithers. A'll stick wi the Scottish story. No' that A'm biased or owts, eh no? Mind, the first skatin' club was sterteed in Edinburgh es fer back es sixteen forty twae.
A'd nae idea ice skatin' was that auld es an organised sport. Well it's tain oo a few hunder year ti catch oan bit at the weekend oo hed oor ain rink. Hevin' said that, oo ded hev a curlin pond, an' av seen folk skatin' on the Teviot abin The Cauld in ma day.
Speakin' aboot Scottish inventions; what a lot o' hings er on oor list. Fri telephones, ti televisions. An' speakin o' which; is eet juist mei or dis onybody else think the reception fri the digital telly isni near es guid es what oo hed when it was the auld kind; what div ee ca'd; analogue. It sometimes juist gauns away a' the gither, or else it freezees.
A mind thum advertisin' the fact that the new digital telly was gaun ti be the bees knees. An' the first place they were gaun ti cut off the auld system was ti be here in the Borders. Es if that was some kind o' privilage eh? Except, folk in some pairts o' the toon still couldni git Channel five at the time.
So here in the Borders, a rural area, oo were the last folk in the country ti be sorteed oot right wi the auld system, an oo were ti be the first ti hev eet switched off.
If oo were ti be the first wi the new system, eed think they'd make share the signal was guid everywhere first eh? Or were oo juist the guinea pigs?
Mibee the folk whae's supposed to sort the digital signal oot er the yins whae should git their skates oan.
