Roller baby

Just before I entered high school and 80s pop culture took over and before I became a moody (to my parents) yet laugh-out-loud Type A teenager, you would find twelve-year-old me in my mint glitter shorts and hot pink tank top roller skating up and down the street, or on a Saturday waiting for the last of the cars to leave the shopping centre carpark (because back then they knew how to lay concrete) and every Sunday afternoon roller skating round and round for hours at the indoor roller skating rink, in time with the electronic beats of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Culture Club or Madness, just to name a few. You could say I wanted to be just like Kira in Xanadu.

Yes, I loved to roller skate.

I'd skate to the corner shop for milk, and Id skate to the other side of the suburb to visit with my best friend, Julie Hannahbags. We'd play hide and skate, clocking up kilometres chasing one another around the neighbourhood streets. I'd even skate to school. Skating got me where I wanted to go – quick. With my skates, I could use every bit of sunlight before the night-time curfew set in. Kids from other schools became your skating buddies. When a new route was discovered or a ramp in an alleyway was built, yours truly was the first to test its credibility. I was an ‘influencer’ before it became a 'thing.'

The skates became an extension of myself.

Initially, there were a few bruises and sprained wrists, but nothing that my grandmother's vinegar-soaked cloths would not fix overnight. That and a shot of palinka in my bedtime tea to soothe the pain. The uniform was shorts in summer and tights in winter. Knee and elbow pads were banned, and the word helmet was cut from our vocabulary.

But, like when the clock ticks over midnight on New Year's Eve, my skating obsession simply vanished.

I was more interested in my new high school friends, the 'gang' of girls who made me laugh. At the same time, we devoured every article and 'how-to' in Dolly magazine. We listened to Countdown on the radio, fingers on the record button. I hadn't thought about that girl on her skates until forty years later when I unwrapped my birthday present.

'Sorry, I tried to get you white ones, but they didn't have your size.'

Proud as punch Husband had remembered a conversation from who-knows-when and thought I'd appreciate a nostalgic gift. I burst out laughing, gave him a huge kiss, ran for a pair of socks, and told him to push the dining table aside as my polished concrete floor was the perfect surface to either crack my head or prove to myself I still 'had it.'

We both held our breath as I stood up from the chair.

A little wobbly at first, but after a few moments, I pushed off, arms stretched wide like Rose did and kept my balance. Even the dog sat mesmerised (or perhaps that was just how he always looked at me). Options of potential outdoor areas flashed across my mind. Could I combine my daily walks with the pooch on wheels? Would I dare skate down the street? What would happen if I smashed into the parked BMW?

'You could try down at the netball courts.' Husband proclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

A couple of months have passed and Im sad to say that Ive yet to carve out time to visit the netball courts. Yesterday I asked hubby what possessed him to buy me this gift, as visualising myself skating like a pro to me actually doing it was a little fuzzy and unclear.

"I thought you'd like it.' He'd replied naively.

Bless him, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'm a little older, a bit slower and that we couldn't afford me with a broken arm, leg, ankle, or anything. On the other hand, why couldn’t I? Im a bit of a go getter, maybe I’ll ask him to come with me. I’ll pray to the gods to keep me upright and wear padded underwear just in case.

So, in the interim my gift sits on display under the chair in my home office, waiting. Each time I look at it, I remember that cliché-ed feeling of the wind in my ponytails and the complete lack of inhibitions or fear; and a part of me misses that girl. The one in the mint glitter shorts who just sped by at lightning speed on her way somewhere.

Just wait. I'll get to that Netball court soon.

#opinion #nostalgia #girlfromthe80s #rollerskate #suburiafun #thingswedoaskids