Oh wow.. Patch Skates!!

When I first started doing Patch, the Veteran Patch Skater said to us, "If you get really into it, you will need different skates," she looked at our freestyle blades with disdain. I had heard about this concept, and while it sounded terribly romantic, was likely not going to happen. Skates and blades are expensive, any way you shake it.

But I mentioned my newfound love of Figures to my skate tech, and said that once Ice Show was over, I'd be able to dedicate more time to them, and perhaps try testing them. He found this lovely, and said he'd try to find me a pair of used boots to use as Patch skates. This was about a month ago.

At yesterday's sharpening, he said he'd found some boots. He pulled up what looked like Cinderella's slippers in white leather; an old pair of SP Teri "Super Teri." They were absolutely tiny in comparison to my bulky freestyle skates. I did not think they would fit me, they were so small. The laces felt old, the uppers were thin and not nearly so stiff as my Teri Dance. There was a little scruff of lamb's wool on the tongue, so darling I petted it! My foot fit perfectly. I was in love.

But what about blades? Patch blades will have no drag pick, either not made with one or a pair of freestyle blades with the drag pick ground off. And blades can be just as expensive, if not more expensive than boots.

He pulled up an old, beat up, very dusty blade box. Were it not for the "MK Wilson" printed on the front, I would have thought Harry Potter's wand was inside. But it was a pair of never used Wilson "Test" blades, wrapped in wax paper, with oil seeping through and discoloring the little printed instruction sheet on how to properly mount blades in English spellings. I unwrapped one; no drag pick to speak of.

Okay. At this point I was wondering how likely it was that my husband would divorce me if I bought another pair of skates so soon after my last pair, for something as trivial as "just another discipline."

I asked the dreaded question. "How much?"

My skate tech smiled and explained that since I'd donated my Jackson's to the shop, we could count the Teri's as a trade. It's true, I didn't even bother seeking consignment on the Jackson's. I was so happy with my Teri's, I'd just counted my blessings and gave them to the skate shop. Apparently they had sold quickly. My Cinderella Slippers were now a gift of the Skate Fates.

Okay, but the blades? He shrugged and said they were found online, and since no one really does Patch anymore, relatively cheaply. He named a price, and I jumped on it. "Do you want me to pay now?"

My only trick now is timing. My day job boss is having surgery this week, so time off will be hard to come by for the next two weeks. And school, scouts and theatre is all back in session, so my evenings are almost always booked. Finding time for a proper blade mounting with my pronation and quirks will require drastic action. I left my Slippers there with my Harry Potter blades, and planning on just leaving early one afternoon this week to get it done. And Skate Tech wants to know how the flatter blades feel. I do, too. And while I doubt Cinderella Skates will fix my BI8's from migrating to Botswana, I am eager to try!

And Cinderella Skates will require Cinderella blade covers, so I'm going to try out one of the numorous blade cover patterns available online. Magic sparkles please... Figure Eights may not be the Prince's ball but they are the best I can do!