I can remember my first pair of ‘proper’ roller skates with great fondness although I can’t quite remember how old I was, probably about 8? My dad was a lorry driver at the time and he knew a place to buy some cheap in Leeds (iirc). So the next time he had do a drop there (bearing in mind we lived in Somerset) I travelled along with him. My pocket money was burning a hole in my pocket. All my friends had roller skates. I was so desperate to own my very own pair of roller skates it felt like it was eating away at my innards!! I was well past the “Fisher Price” extendable skates by now! The first place I got to try out these newly acquired skates was in the back of my dads lorry, parked up in a car park in Leeds!!
I loved those skates and I like to think I got pretty good on them. My friends and I used to build little ramps and skate like demons down our hill and jump off the kerb at the end. HOW COOL DID I FEEL! During my early teens my brother and I used to attend the local roller disco at the guildhall. That was so much fun and a good chance to hone my “skillz”! During my mid teens I migrated from roller skates to roller blades and then onto a skateboard. I have also tried my hand at ice skating with a good level of success too.
Fast forward to today (some 15+ years later) and I am on the look out for a pair of roller skates again! I must be mad…I’m hardly that adept, agile and fearless 8 year old any more! Can I really come out of the other side of this ‘urge’ without any broken bones (and damaged pride)? Well time will tell. Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to hitch a ride to Leeds in my dads lorry so I have been trawling the internet to see what delights are on offer in the modern world of roller skating!
Here are some of my more interesting discoveries!
Apparently these Landrollers will “get your mojo on”….
According to their website these skates “allow enhanced performance over inline and quad roller skates, providing skaters of all skill levels with an entirely new and improved experience.”
I think that they look like you’ve had a nasty accident involving a passing child’s stablisers!!
How about these for a bit of “Line Dance” roller skating?
Sadly, I don’t have any more information on stockists for these little beauties (!!) but I am sure that LeAnn Rimes will own a pair (perhaps drop her agent a line?)!
Alas, these are not for me.
Next ‘in line’ (!! ha! see what I’ve done there…!!) is a rather sexy pair of boots – unlike any other. Who would wear them and more importantly how they’d use them I do not know but I do know that you aren’t going to get much more blinged up than these:
Bling Bling roller skates!
Rather disappointly – since I broke my foot I have been unable to wear heels so I’m going to pass on these. I’d love to see some video footage of these in action though!
Moving swiftly on we have a pair of “Booster blades”
Booster-Blades really do Boost, but what are the advantages of Boosting over a regular Inline or Rollerskate?
GREATER PROPULSION; With the aid of the unique chain mechansim, one is able to generate greater self propulsion
BETTER BRAKING; With the brake pad design, one is able to brake quicker
FLEXIBILITY; With Booster Blades the user has more control over acceleration and brakingetcetcetc
Hmmm actually I really just want a simple pair of roller skates!
On to my next discovery….
…No you are not looking at an off road dune buggy. These are actually designer skates I’ll have you know! This is a wonderful offering from Emporio Armani. If Victoria Beckham was on the look out for a pair of skates, this is where she’d go!
Now I don’t know about you but these just completely remind me of the Fisher Price skates that we had as Toddlers? I can’t ever remember a time that ‘strap on’ roller skates have been cool. You always tend to look a bit sub standard with a pair of ‘strap on’ skates on. Anyway, these have all sold out so my quest for the perfect skate continues….
Holy Moly, even a pair of skates designed for Jesus….and of course if you owned these bad boys you’d *have* to wear them with socks.
The company behind these is called Aircoast and they seem to offer a variety of unfashionable footwear that is modified to skates. Has anyone told them, that adding a set of four wheels to a shoe does not then make it cool?!
Devon is a rural place. Lots of hill, fields and other similar landscapes, so perhaps what I need is a pair of all-terrain skates. Fortunately these can be found at SuperDairyBoy…
The TrailSkate™ all-terrain skate is an evolutionary leap in the advancement of human powered sports. They are easy to ride…and a whole lot of fun.
I’d kind of only really like to stick to flat even surfaces for now!
Hmm decisions, decisions.. there’s just so many skates to choose from. What’s a girl to do??!!
A dwarf accidentally glued his penis to a vacuum cleaner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
I also had this camper van which I considered simply brilliant – it was my favourite addition to my Fisher Price Little People collection. It had so many removeable parts. The boat came off the roof and it had little seats to fit the people in. I seem to remember the boat did float and was often used in our bath.
The hospital was quite a substantial and muched loved addition to my set. It came with lots of accessories including a set of weighing scales…and the dial even moved when you place the figure on them , an xray machine and as you stood the figure on it the display changed to an xray image. The ambulance had a stretcher that fitted in the back and you’d have to strap in your patient using the velcro strap! The stretcher would often become a make shift car. Downstairs in the hospital there was a ‘theatre’ including an operating table (this was used as all sorts of other weird things by me). The best bit about the hospital was the lift. You turn the handle and up (or down) goes the lift. I believe there may well have been a bell that pinged when the lift reached its destination too! This was the height of toy technology!
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