The Ice Under the Lights.

A few nights ago my car seemingly steered itself along a different route to the gym. Typically, I drive the most direct route that takes me down two boring roads. On this night though I found myself downtown driving toward Main Street. Turning the corner I saw a sight that I haven't seen since last winter - the lights at Town Hall. 

I took my foot off the accelerator and slowly crept down the street trying to take it all in while my eyes searched for evidence that the skating rink was up and running. The skating rink is really what mesmerizes me. Growing up in the South I was never exposed to impromptu skating rinks. To me, skating rinks are something that are housed in large temperature-controlled buildings, not in front of City Hall where grass usually grows in the summer. 

But alas, here in Canada skating rinks are created wherever one deems acceptable. All you need is some wooded boards, a garden hose for flooding and freezing temperatures. The glow of Christmas lights is just an added bonus that makes it all that more magical. 

I did finally make it down the street to the gym without stopping traffic or causing an accident. When I walked in the door afterwards I announced to The Canadian that the City Hall skating rink was up and that we just had to go down there and get some photos of it. He looked at his watch, realized it was 10:00pm on a Thursday night, started to object and then quickly remembered that we are on vacation this week. So why not? What's stopping us from heading downtown on a random Thrusday night? And you know what, let's go have a drink while we're at it. Why not?

So we did. 

We bundled up and we walked along Main Street. 

We stopped and took photos.

And TC took a little trip around the rink.

 

I even remembered my resolutions and took a photo of us. Hey, blurry is better than nothing.

The to-do list for the winter includes sledding, building a snow man, curling, going to a hockey game, and ice skating. I'll be sure to let you know when I build up enough guts to actually put my skates on and take a trip around the random rink under the magical lights. It's going to be great. Just as soon as they build walls along the side so I have something to crash into.