After Father Christmas brought skates for Debbie I took her and Della with friend Helen Roller Skating in Peterborough, where we struggled but made progress such that they would like to go again. I got them out, dressed and home in time for tea and then relaxed this evening by carrying on with my press cuttings and watching some TV with Diana. Our health is improving but we have yet to recover completely.
At first, I started the day steadily and, after quite a lay in, I did my morning chores and then settled down to update my journal for these last few days. After breakfast, I took the girls off to Peterborough for a roller-skating session at "Rollers". Debbie had hardly taken her skates off since she got them from "Father Christmas" on Christmas day and so, as there were also Debbie's old skates for Della to wear and the outside weather had been too wet and cold, it seemed a good way to give her some proper practice. We collected Helen Cranston from Perry and set off with no very good idea of where the skating rink was to be found. In fact, we drove round the Peterborough ring road for ages before asking for help and then found that it was near to the multi-screen cinema all the time.
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Unfortunately, we were to visit on one of its last days of operation as it is closing down soon for financial reasons. Situated so far out with no public transport for the younger users, it is not really a very good location. It cost me £8.50 for admission (an adult, three children and two skate hire fees for Helen and I) and we donned the skates and gave it a try. Debbie and Helen struggled around the wooden arena and I kept Della on the carpet for most of the time until we got used to it. In fact, I was a good roller-skater at age 11, but have hardly been on them for the last thirty years. Then Della and I went around the edge of the rink, holding on to the bar for support and finally we held hands and risked the open spaces to quite good effect. The girls were a bit excited and grumpy; not really knowing what they wanted to do for most of the time, but they did enjoy it and said that they would like to go again. I got them out, dressed and home in time for tea and then relaxed this evening by carrying on with my press cuttings and watching some TV with Diana. Our health is improving but we have yet to recover completely.