Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
One of the attractions of Ottawa is that each winter (barring further impact from climate change!) a five mile or so stretch of the canal that goes through town is cleared of snow and flooded and turned into a giant ‘skateway.’ It is a lot of fun to be able to skate in a straight line, much more fun that skating around in circles in a rink! Also every mile or so are shacks where you can get food and drink. They rent skates on the canal, and even push sleds to you can push along someone who doesn’t skate. So those who want can have a good long skate. Those who are not as strong skaters can enjoy making their way to the first shacks for a hot chocolate or ‘beaver tail’ (fried pastry basically). You don’t even have to have your own skates, and if one of your group does not skate you can push them, or they can walk (there is section of packed snow alongside the ice for that purpose). Basically it makes for a really fun outing, that can be done from childhood through to old age—and I would think at a good range of sizes. After all, with no hills and the ability to glide, the work required for a bigger person should not be all that different from a thinner one.
And yet, you seldom see anyone bigger than a little chubby out there. Now I admit that Ottawa is far from the fattest of cities, but still if you go to the mall or walk downtown in rush hour you’ll see a reasonable number of fat folk. But out on the canal they are rare enough to be individually noticeable. (also, mildly fat tends to get hidden under bulky winter clothes, so the smaller end of big I may not be noticing).
I tend not to believe the stereotype that fat folk are lazy. Perhaps on average fat folk are less athletic, or less inclined to believe that they can go do a physical activity? Or are there other issues with big folk and skating?
Which finally brings me to my question for the BBW and BHM: do you skate? Did you ever skate? Do you think that your size is an obstacle to skating?
For my part the only thing my current size makes difficult with regard to skating is tying up my skates (my belly makes it hard to bend over that far for that long).
Regards;
-Ed
PS. I'm looking to see if there is any interest in getting a Dimensions group to meet on the canal some evening, which made me wonder if there would be problems with BBW/BHM skaters. See the Canada events board if you are interested in the skating evening.
And yet, you seldom see anyone bigger than a little chubby out there. Now I admit that Ottawa is far from the fattest of cities, but still if you go to the mall or walk downtown in rush hour you’ll see a reasonable number of fat folk. But out on the canal they are rare enough to be individually noticeable. (also, mildly fat tends to get hidden under bulky winter clothes, so the smaller end of big I may not be noticing).
I tend not to believe the stereotype that fat folk are lazy. Perhaps on average fat folk are less athletic, or less inclined to believe that they can go do a physical activity? Or are there other issues with big folk and skating?
Which finally brings me to my question for the BBW and BHM: do you skate? Did you ever skate? Do you think that your size is an obstacle to skating?
For my part the only thing my current size makes difficult with regard to skating is tying up my skates (my belly makes it hard to bend over that far for that long).
Regards;
-Ed
PS. I'm looking to see if there is any interest in getting a Dimensions group to meet on the canal some evening, which made me wonder if there would be problems with BBW/BHM skaters. See the Canada events board if you are interested in the skating evening.
