this was the pond

on which I learned to skate, in the Big Freeze of 1962-3 - in other words, the ice was a good deal more thick and stable than it is now.  We learned in the good old-fashioned Victorian way, of course - by pushing a chair in front of us, holding onto its back.  It only struck me today that this must have meant that my friend Vivien's mother must have carried a chair all the way here - if not from the street that they lived in, at least from the car (but I can't imagine that we drove for just a couple of streets to get here - indeed, I don't remember that her mother drove ...).  That family must have had some skates ...