Water skating

Every winter, ice rinks begin to pop up in various locations all over London. For the past couple of years, I have attended in the hope that this time, I will be a better skater. Unfortunately, that is never the case and I am just as rubbish on the ice as I remembered.

I've been to the rinks at Kew Gardens and Somerset House, both of which are situated in absolutely beautiful settings. This year, for something a little different, I decided to book tickets to skate outside the iconic Natural History Museum.

The museum building is always a stunner, and when lit up at night with literally thousands of Christmas fairy lights, it looks magical. The weeping trees drooping over the large square of ice were covered in little white lights and twinkling in the wind. It would have been a wonderful place to skate.

However, when booking the tickets there was something I didn't quite prepare for: the December weather. Just an hour before our time slot, the heavens opened and it poured. When we arrived at the Natural History Museum we were already soaked, and there was a puddle of water an inch deep in the center of the rink. The skaters from the slot before us (and there weren't many) were making their way around the rink with extra care, with their hoods up and a miserable look on their face.

Unsurprisingly, we decided against the water skating. I am prone to falling over, and falling over in a pool of dirty water is certainly not my idea of fun. As disappointing as this all was, I think I would've been more upset to ruin my beloved camel coat (a bad idea in itself). Hopefully we'll go again before the season ends, and it'll be a lot drier and icier.