Sunday, July 18, 2010

How do you stop in roller blades?

Rollerblading in Paris


ROLLERS ET COQUILLAGES (roller pour débutant) is a skating tour of Paris every Sunday at 14.30 for beginners. Everyone meets near Place Bastille, at the Nomades store (to rent blades and protection for just 10 Euros)
37 Bld Bourdon, Paris 4è, Métro Bastille.

Judy and I took a break from the Paris bar scene to experiment with rollerblading before she returns home to Australia. Our duo adventures in Paris are ending, and on this day, almost in more ways than one.

"Oh, there you are." I wave to Judy as I step out of the rental shop onto the sidewalk. My feet began to roll. One foot to the left the other one straight. How do you stop on roller blades?!, I wondered too late. "How do I stop?! I can't stop!" I yelled as my feet tried to coordinate rolling towards Judy.

She could only watch as I rolled faster towards her, embracing her (actually it was more like clinging to her for my life) while she manged to grab my left arm as I continued past her and crashed to the ground. I suddenly felt like the store front entertainment, as every watched to see what stunt was next.
"Are you okay? Thank God for the protection." Judy said, helping me up.

The "debutant" rollerblading had not begun and I wondered what the heck were we doing? Just realizing that NOT knowing how to roller blade might be a bad idea. It just "looked" like fun.

Shortly into the adventure, heading downhill, there's a sound like a pile of luggage crashing to the ground and a low muffled groan. It was not luggage, (wheels, plastic, and fabric, hitting the ground sounds like luggage) glancing back to see Judy, laying on the sidewalk. I roll towards a building wall to stop with my hands. How do you stop roller blades?

The debutantes?!

Judy...after the fall. Me. After the fall.

Debutantes who know how to stop...

The "debutant" group of 1,000's were too far ahead to help us, as we both wondered, "How do you stop in roller blades?!". Not knowing the answer, we put on our shoes, walked back to Bastille and returned the roller blades for another day.

The question remains. How do you stop in roller blades?

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