The World According to Rollerskating
May 12th 2010 04:46
Combining a 16-year-old boys' natural instinct to earn bragging rights to his mates and impress girls by travelling at breakneck speeds - roller skating was about as close as you could come to taking your life in your hands without having to wear either a helmet or a seatbelt.
We frequented a place called 'The Big Roller' and for a short time - it was the local 'hang' where kids between 14 and 17 would congregate en-masse in a show of humanity every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for four hours of roller disco, chariot races, speed skating and general mayhem!
Those who were lucky (or diligent enough in their savings plans) had their own skates, the rest of us simply hired - but no matter the circumstance, there was still a pecking order entirely dependent on your ability to stay upright while looking effortlessly stylish.
Plying our well honed abilities to the strains of (among others) The Vapours, Martha and Muffins, Adam Ant and Cheap Trick - eventually the lights would be turned down and the mirror balls turned on. Nature (as you would expect from a large group of teens) took its course with even the hardiest of speed demons making way for those who suddenly found courage in the dim surrounds to grab the hand of that special boy or girl.
And so, for the next 30 minutes (and to the likes of the hypnotically saccharin, Roger Voudouris or Randy Van Warmer) you felt like you'd found that inner peace - where parents, homework and whatever else interupted the joys of being 16 - were sucked into the abyss - with ne're a care for tomorrow.
Of course being that 'teen time' vs 'real time' are two entirely separate entities - the clock all too quickly turned to 11 and the extended roller dream was over for another night.
It's funny isn't it, how the simpliest of cognitive suggestions from seemingly non connected sources be they a song on the radio a comment or a smell evokes a clear recollection of the faces, the memories and the feelings of the time.
Somewhere along the way, the faces grew unfamilar, the times began to change and The Big Roller disappeared.
I used to love roller skating!
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