Purgatory

I now have my answer for the question that all teenagers hurl at their parents at some point 'What did you ever do for me anyway?'

All last week Adam's nursery has foregone normal morning nursery activities and headed down to the ice rink that opens every winter in Tuzla's central park, Slana Banja. I wasn't sure how he would take to it, he's not a big into making a fool of himself, falling over or doing things that he doesn't already know how to do. Ice Skating ticks all of these boxes, I was not expecting a success. To my enormous surprise he loved it. Adored it. Couldn't wait to get back onto the rink. He harrassed, harangued and battered his beaten down mother over the head until I agreed that we could go en famille at the weekend.

So en famille we did. Outdoor gear on, skates on, a relatively small amount of money parted with (a massive 3KM (£1ish) per person) and we were off. Well, sort of off. More gripping onto the side of the rink in sheer terror (me) as I try to support Luke who is jumping up and down shouting 'wheeeee wheeeee' and then 'faster Mummy faster!' as Dave and Adam disappear gliding gracefully over the ice. Then we swap children, Adam grabs my hand and pulls me straight off balance.

It led to 20minutes of sheer purgatory for me. Holding up Luke who was clearly having the most wonderful time, as we tottered around, it was all I could do to pray I wasn't going to fall down squashing a small child and slicing off his fingers in the process. That position, the slightly hunched over incredibly uncomfortable one known to all mothers, is a killer on the old, not too good at the best of times, back. The cold toes, the crippling boots, the aching muscles, good Lord I hated every minute. The boys adored it, can't wait to do it again. Obviously, we will go again. But I will remember this, and when they ask me what did I ever do for them in that teenage-ery huffing pouting fashion, I'll be able to say - I took you ice skating.

Ice skating

Looks like Adam got his wish to try out ice skating sooner than expected. The temperature edged up near freezing last night and a very light drizzley rain fell. It then dropped again and all the water froze into a perfect ice rink that is covering the city.

Treacherous? Ah - just a little. So far today I've seen 2 people fall pretty heavily, 2 cars slide into the ones in front, did my own graceful, elegant, unrequested and rather slow 90 degree spin in the car on the road, have watched Jess slide into the fence at the bottom of the garden and it is only 9.30am. I'm planning some indoors activities for this afternoon, no way am I going to attempt to take out 2 toddlers and dog in this.

Adam appears to think that we are going to buy some ice-skates this afternoon. Luke, who doesn't like the snow and cold at the best of times is delighted with this latest turn of events.

winter sports and fun

Whilst we were gallivanting around in Sarajevo over Christmas, they were busy updating the amenities in Tuzla. Most obviously is the new ice rink (on top of a rather nice clay tennis court) by Slana Banja park. It's proving to be quite a hit with the general population and at 5KM for an hour is great value for money. Adam is very keen to try it out, I'm less keen and have put off the moment of truth until the weekend when Daddy is also on hand to deal with bruised bottoms and tears. Yesterday, he was satisfied with watching some friends of ours, Amel and Ivana, have a go. Amel was a reluctant skater, most happy when clinging to the edge of the rink.

"Amel!" shouted Adam "you're not very good. I don't think your ice skates are working very well".

Next door to the ice rink they've put up 8 big trampolines. Oh my goodness me, how much do the boys love trampolines? Our daily routine has a whole new element to it. Now I pick the boys up from nursery, drive to the park for an hour of dragon fighting and exploring through the woods (otherwise known as a dog walk) which is then followed with a big long bounce. It's terrific. Who am I kidding - I love the trampolines too!

MORE ON GAS SITUATION
The temperature this morning when I dropped the boys off at nursery was -12C. There is still wrangling going on between Ukraine and Russia about the gas pipeline which has left about 100,000 homes in Bosnia without heating, mainly in Sarajevo, Zenica and Zvornik. I read an interesting blog comparing the situation in Sarajevo today to that during the 1992-95 conflict (click here). Fortunately for us, Tuzla doesn't rely upon gas supplies at all so we are toasty warm but watching the electricity supply carefully.