MOOING, NO BOOING FOR ROLLER-SKATING SPANISH FARMER

After tending to his cows all day, Pablo Pato swept the hay off the loor and transformed, almost Cinderella-like, into a freestyle roller skater without leaving the cowshed in the remote mountain village of Llanuces in northern Spain. With his toxic yellow inline skates on, the 33-year-old gathers speed on the concrete loor, jumps onto a purpose-built platform to grind his blades sideways on a rail, does a backlip and lands in front of his gentle-eyed spectators. “The cows are my audience. They always support me, they never boo at me,” he said with a grin. Every now and then, when his duties and the harsh mountain weather allow it, Pato briely leaves the tiny village of three dozen residents to take part in regional freestyle competitions before human audiences, but the only way he can practice is on the cattle farm. He already has various medals won in the championships hanging on the wall, but still, when asked what is more important to him, cows or skating, Pato immediately replied: “Cows.”