"ICE BEARING!"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21462, 8 April 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

"ICE BEARING!"

BY F. B. FORESTER

A JOY OF ENGLAND

England's severe winter, especially rigorous in the later months when spring begins to assert itself, has had compensations this year for many. The number of days when the ice "bears" has been abnormally increased, and the inexpensive pastime this makes possible has attracted an enlarged host of devotees. Little wonder that many a photograph published here in our summer has portrayed the skating joys of ardent expert and equally ardent tyro. To those knowing the Old Land it is easy to picture the scene. For days the frost has held, each night raising anew the hopes of wouldbe skaters, and the boys of tho community, impatient as usual, have gone almost hourly to the brink of tho big pool, where, holding to the branches of an overhanging sapling, they have touched the surface with tentative toes, hoping for the solid feel of ice bearing beneath. This morning, at last, these hopes have been realised. Last night it froze harder than ever; and one of the boys, greatly daring, has run clear across the pool from side to side, putting it beyond doubt that the ico is safe at last. It is difficult for dwellers in a semitropical climate to understand the delight resulting from this intelligence in England, to rich and poor alike. One and all they share in it, preparing to enjoy the short-lived pleasure to the full. Short-lived they fear it will be, for seldom indeed, in the Midlands, does the frost hold more than two or three days, and those whoso ambition is to skate at all had better skate while they may. They do so without a doubt. Doctors, lawyers, clergy, business men, every one of them contrives time, however brief, to don skates, and have even half an hour's spin on the ico among the merry throng already there. Few social engagements are made or kept these days; the ice, the ice is the thing, and everything else will keep.

Properties

Down at the big pond, on this day of still sunshine, things are lively. The pool is a large one, two or three acres in extant, lying close to a swampy coppice, and already, even at this early hour, its surface is alive with skaters, the whine of their blades reaching the ears through the clear frosty air long before the water is reached.

There on the bank are all the simple properties required for the sport, provided by the cottage-dwellers near at hand, who are taking the chance to earn an honest penny by giving the skaters what assistance they can, in the w r ay of putting on skates, etc. A chair or two, requisitioned from these cottages, are set close to the edge of tho ice, and beside them is a brazier of glowing coals, at which the lookers-on, sitting on rugs or coats spread on ground that rings hard as iron to the tread, are glad from time to time to warm fingers or toes, for the frosty cold is bitter. Brooms, too, are in constant demand, not only to sweep away the light powdering of snow that feil overnight, but—for the sharp blades of the skates act on the ice in somewhat the same way as does a gramophone needle on a record —to keep the ice clear from anything that might result in a fall for a skater. It is black and smooth beneath tho feet now, for since oarly,.morning, when the word went round that the ice was bearing, busy hands havo been steadily at work. In the background, brought as a matter of precaution, lies a ladder: but it is to be hoped that this will not be needed foe rescue work to-day. Nearer the bank than the skaters, the boys have made a slide, and their shouts ring clear in the frosty air as, with cheeks red as apples from the cold, down they go ono after the other in a long chain. Considering how comparatively few in England are tho chances to practice,' it is wonderful what good skaters there are here, able to cut eights or spread eagles with the best. Intruders All, however, on the ice are not pleased or happy. Over there by the sluice gate, where a board displays the word " Dangerous," the ice has been broken for the swans, and the. water trickles sullenly away. The birds, looking thoroughly disgusted with life in general, and the new conditions in particular, dip orange beaks in the muddy water or paddle in it with black webbed feet. If the ice stays longer than two or three days, the swans certainly will not, but, rising strong on the wing and flying high, they will make their way straight as the crow flies to the Severn, where they are sure of finding open water. No one appears to own these swans, though they are nominally supposed to belong to the King; they come and go as they please, and fewlarge sheets of water in the country are without a pair or more of these beautiful birds. They nest on the bank or among the reeds, and at that time the "cob"—as tho male swan is called in England—is decidedly dangerous, and

will attack any creature coming near where tho "pen" is sitting, a blow from his wing being fully capable of breaking a man's arm. The short winter day is drawing to a close; and by 4 p.m. it will be almost dark. The trees, shrouded in rime, look spectral in the dim light and from the reeds surrounding the pool comes a shiver as a faint breeze stirs them with a sound that is indescribably melancholy. But the coming of darkness makes no difference in the number of skaters; for if some are taking off their skates to go homo, others, released earlier than usual from shop or office, are already trooping to tho ice, and tho best of the fun is to come. Out flash the lights from cottage windows and a bonfire, lit on the bank near the chairs, beginning to snap and sparkle in the gathering dark, provides light for the skaters and warmth for those standing about. Probably, in these days of electricity, things are widely different, and electric torches, possibly even arc lights, may be in use on the ico in England now. But twenty years ago electric torcVes were not in everyday use and skaters had to do tho best they could with tho light of the bonfire, an occasional lantern and flares, carried by some of the younger spirits. What the old way may have missed in convenience, however, it gained in picturesqueness. Conditions of Safety

Considering the popularity of skating in England and the rush there always is to the ice, it is surprising that drowning accidents are so few in number, and the tale of fatalities might bo even shorter if skaters would observe simple precautions: Leave the ico as soon as the thaw sets in and carefully avoid going near the spots marked " Dangerous,'' usually where a spring or stream enters the pool.. But bovs may often be seen sliding on ice submerged under an inch or more of water, and accidents are almost always the result.

Opinions differ as to the thickness of the ice at bearing point —some say two inches, ethers three; and many authorities declare, too, that when the ice is heard to crack more or less loudly it is safest. But this opinion is hardly shared by the timid and a loud crack echoing across the pool when it is crowded with skaters usually sees a good many of them making for the bank. It may be near midnight before the ice is deserted and the last skater takes off his skates with regret, for there is the indescribable but unmistakable feeling in the air that tells a thaw is near.