Interview #6 : The Voices of Ice-Skaters in London2 min read

Towards the winter holidays, people get more and more excited enjoying various amusements and shopping across London. Since last month, dazzling outdoor ice-rinks have popped up in iconic London locations. Visiting the majestic Natural History Museum’s ice-rink, I listened to voices of the kind staff and people enjoying skating.

How wonderful this year’s publicity copy for the museum is…!

One of the sentences in the copy read:

“Experience the thrill of skating surrounded by fairy lights nestled in frost-covered trees, with the smell of mulled wine and toasted marshmallows in the air.”
They ran 50-minute sessions from 11.00 am to 21.00 pm everyday.

The ticket price including skates is only £12.65 for an adult and £8.80 for a child.

According to the ticket booth, the busiest time-slot of the day is 8pm to 9pm, in which almost 300 people come on the ice-rink. It will be even busier during Christmas vacation.

Voices of delight fill the air when people enter the ice rink. From old couples to children who challenged skating for the first time in their life.

“I come here several times every single winter,” one visitor said. “Today, I took my co-workers.”

“It’s scary and we can’t even move…!”another said “So we try to hold the wall surrounding this rink. However, we can laugh at each other.”

“We can feel romantic”, a couple explained.

“I came here on my own.”, a 25-year-old said “This is the nicest way to spend my time this season, with great music and tasty mulled wine!’

There were two members of staff on safety duty on the ice and teaching people how to skate.

Marshal said: “I do this as my seasonal part-time job every year. It is an important role with responsibility for safety, however, I always have so much fun on this rink by talking a lot with visitors.”

Serap said “I used to do roller-skating. And when Marshal invited me to the trainers team, I decided to join it soon, because I thought it would be a great time for me to share the joy of skating with lots of people again. It is my pleasure to see someone be able to skate smoothly just 20 or 25 minutes after I gave them a couple bits of advice.”

We can buy tickets online. If you miss out on such an elegant time with outdoor ice-rinks this year, you’ll have to wait for the winter next year.
Without a doubt, outdoor ice-rinks in London can be great to make an unforgettable winter memory.