This morning I was engaged in drafting a blogpost about the role of labs and makerspaces in our engineering education. Until my son and daughter came to me with the best proposal this Sunday: “Let’s see where we can skate”. Since we are living in the Green Heart of Holland, in a former swamp area, we have a very green landscape which is rich in undeep waterways that freeze easily. In former times many of these waterways were used by flat wide boats to transport the peat from the swamp area to the city of Amsterdam for heating. Today their main function is water management, to prevent the flooding of our deep polders. And when it starts freezing, they are the place to be if you like skating.
Skating on natural ice on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with the crackling noise of steel on ice. It’s one of the best things in life, and the best way to slow down and make memories (private photo).
For me skating on natural ice in the flat polders is the best and most beautiful activity to slow down and take a moment to myself. So I did not have to think long to answer. “Yes, let’s go”. We found a 2 km long more or less solitary straight track of hard black ice, less than 1 kilometer from my home.
“Memories are the best things in life. Don’t forget to make them.”
It became a great Sunday afternoon, skating with my son and daughter for more than 25 kilometers. And the blogpost about the labs and makerspaces? It will be completed next weekend or so. Completing the draft of the post could never have competed with today’s natural ice skating memories.
