innumerablestars

On our way back from a lovely meal at a pub out of town, strolling through the frosty night, we enjoyed the little crunches of the grass under our boots.

And then we came to the field at the end of our road. For a while now it has been slightly flooded; now it's cold enough that several millimetres on the top have frozen over. We wandered over to have a closer look.

I've always wondered what it would feel like to walk on thin ice and feel it start to give way beneath you. This seemed to be my opportunity, so I stepped out. In some places the ice gave way beneath my feet immediately. In some places, supported by clumps of grass, it actually seemed to hold my weight. More often it would seem to hold for half a second and then as my full weight went onto that foot it would crack and collapse beneath. As there was only an inch or so of water and I was wearing boots, I didn't even get my feet wet.

The best, though, was when I came to a wider and more uniform expanse of ice. Hitherto I'd always had good grip; at this point I started to slide, as on an ice rink. And, typically after a couple of seconds, I'd start to hear a cracking, and it would fall away beneath my feet, and the cracks would spread out in that classic kind of pattern.

Has anyone else had the chance to play in such circumstances?