Roller Skating
My friend and I went out for skating yesterday. We went to the west part of Shanghai on roller skates six hour in a row. It was an annoying struggle at first due to our choosing a wrong route, and later, as we decided to skate along the off
-main-roads, changed to a thrilling, rewarding outdoor experience.
My friend proposed to pick up roller skating as far back as February of this year, a time when he happened to find Decathlon, a quality sports facility manufacturer and retailer, here in Shanghai, and when I just finished grappling with my
exam and was about to go home. I laughed it off at the first few times he mentioned it, but became quite interested and made my accedence later when giving a second thought of it.
The first time roller skating outdoors was a nightmare though. No sooner we had
changed our roller skates on in the nearby university than did we have to skate
across a bridge with slope. I was scared by the slope. Actually I was so panic,
that I grasped my friend’s hand and wouldn’t let it go, and that I lost my balance soon and fell over in clumsiness.
I got a lesson afterwards: Don’t panic at all times. Panic is often caused by diffidence and scruples. And you’ll get nothing but falling over time and time again if you don’t change your attitude. So I did. The moment I decided not to try to take control of my skates when I skated down along the slope and be willing to let them go, I stopped falling over and started to enjoy the sports and even the surrounding scenery that slid by.
Of course as a starting point, for the sake of safety, we didn’t try to skate on the roads but in the parks. Learning to brake, and learning to dodge random people in the way were our priorities. We didn’t attempt to go far before we achieved that. But the minute we felt safe with our skating skill we went onto the road and skated as far as we could. We skated along Suzhou River, carrying our map, skated to the east, and skated as far as the Bund. I was so thrilled when we
arrived at the Bund.
So was I this time. At the beginning of this journey we choose to skate to the west along Suzhou River. But as the road later became too bumpy and narrow, we decided to skate westward but dodge the unpractical road and the funky smell given
off from chemical factories adjacent to the river. It was hard at the beginning
as it was about time people finished their work and headed toward home. Fortunately the road condition soon changed for better. Also the scotching sun above the sky decided to pull itself up together and started to move westward and have a
rest. Everything started to become favorable to us.
We became more relaxed and dared to slip some of our attention to the scenery byroads now. It was interesting to notice how different from the downtown area the
view started to become. Instead of neat, man-raised flowers decorated along the
roads, a mixture of wild plants and flowers took the place with its irregularity and plainness. High-rises started to disappear, replaced gradually by rustic low-rises. The horizon started to expand. You could see as far as your eyes can reach. And as far as you eyes could see, everywhere at the two sides of the road
was suffused with verdant trees and comely wild flowers.
Our journey arrived at its peak when we followed some people to a random village
in the dim light of dusk and got swamped by bunches of curious and innocent kids. They jumped, run and laughed behind us. I guess it must be the first time they have seen a foreigner and people wearing roller skates to bump into their village. They said hello incessantly except by punctuated laughter evoked by our reply. It was such an interesting and hilarious moment.
I guess that’s one good thing about roller skating. You are able to go farther,
nearer, and deeper to experience the things that you won’t be able to if you travel on bus or on foot. Bus is always smelly and troublesome, whereas walking afar tiring and time-consuming. Roller skating complies the advantages of the two
. It helps you get rid of the bustle and din of the city fast, but not too fast,
so that you can consciously notice the nuance of urbanism and ruralism. And it
still, after some countable hours, enables you to relish the journey without draining your energy down to the point that physical tiredness excels the becoming
scenery, that relishment itself becomes next to impossible...
