Inline skating
When I was young I loved to my skates (I called them skeelers even though they had four wheels) and I did it quite often. So yesterday when the weather was just perfect I decided that I wanted to do some inline skating even though I had not touched a skate in the past six or eight years. I looked up on the Internet what the current state of the industry is, relearned the things I had forgotten about skating (the theory) and was deciding where to buy them until my mom reminded me that six or eight years ago I had bought these excellent skates but had only used them for a week or so.
So up in the attic I searched for my inline skates and found them in one of the boxes. I had indeed bought them and I recalled that they were quite expensive for me at the time. They were bought in France when we were there on vacation and I had indeed used them for only a week or so before I boxed them in the attic. The weather in the Netherlands was what excpected in the Netherlands: Nothing but rain. The year after that the weather was also poor and so I forgot all about them.
After cleaning the frame and wheels (I had not done that when I boxed them 
) I geared up (wearing protection for elbow, knees and wrist), I finally got up and... almost planted my face on the ground. I admit I knew that I would have trouble skating again, but except the first time I wore skates I had never had any trouble getting up. I guess that the years of sitting behind a desk, hitting the keyboard while writing code had not improved my balance. Big surprise there. However that was indication enough I had to learn everything from scratch again.
So after a few test rounds on the parking lot, learning to brake and to turn I was reminded why I didn't like skating on the parking lot with these skates. The wheels of my skates are 80mm 82a which means that they are small and reasonable soft and the the parking lot has a lot of bricks. So after a few minutes you feel like your feet have been put in the blender. Leaving the parking lot behind me I left in a random direction. I'm proud to say I did not fall, but it took a lot of effort and I wouldn't be suprised if I have lost my balance more than 20 times.
When I decided to rest I was tired and everything hurt. My arms from spinning, my feet from the poor road, my back because it wasn't used to bend like that and my head because it was the middle of the day and it was hot. After a few minutes of recovering my breath I decided to go back home. To my suprise going back was a whole lot easier. I only lost my balance a few times, four or five times if I recall correct, and the rough tarmac didn't feel so rough anymore. I enjoyed it. The distance skated was only 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) but for the first time after so many years it feels like quite a feat.
I only hope that this weather will stay as I want to do some more skating.