ROB GRAHAM
Frank Ryan Park,
Feb. 2, 2017.
“I love this return to cold weather, because it’s been a really frustrating winter so far. A lot of snow but very little in the way of cold temperatures.
“But I’m in my element now; I love this weather.
“I used to do this about 30 years ago. At one time I think I had seven rinks. I was originally a city employee with the winter program, and then I switched to become an operator on a contract basis through the associations. I had a little rink empire going at one point. It was pretty challenging with seven rinks. There were no cellphones in those days. I had my brother working for me full-time, but it was difficult because you couldn’t communicate with each other.
“Anyway, that’s what I did at one point, and then I became an international teacher, in South America and the Middle East. Now I’m retired — for close to 10 years now — and I wanted to keep in shape. I always lose about 10 pounds doing the rinks.
“I just do two rinks now, here (at Frank Ryan Park), and Lincoln Heights, on Regina. I don’t know how I ever did seven.
“I enjoy getting out here in the sunshine. I love working in the morning, rather than at night,
because of the sun. It’s very peaceful, and it’s satisfying when you get a nice, smooth surface. And some days if you’re out here really early you get the steam coming off, through the sunshine. It’s almost like a Zen moment. It’s very relaxing.
“This rink I also enjoy because there’s a learning-disabilities school that’s close by, and they use it almost three times a week. They love coming over here. They don’t have a playground, so they love to use the rink.
“So I often keep it going into March if I can. There are a couple of other schools that use it, and the association has their winter carnival every year, and a lot of people come to that.
“But there’s something distinctly Canadian to this, especially when it’s 35 below, and it’s hard to stop once it’s in your blood.
“I have a girlfriend in Colombia, and her nickname for me is The Penguin.”