Running on Thin Ice



 Although the rain has washed the snow away, there are new hazards for outside adventurers in The Hague. Black ice. It’s not black. But, a transparent layer of ice on the asphalt road appears black. Appropriately, black ice sounds a lot more sinister than transparent ice, and is suggestive of the consequences for those ignorant of it’s presence. Black out, black eye, black and blue buttocks are all possibilities.

The Hague Gemeente (municipal council) has a 24 hour on call service to de-ice the roads and bicycle paths with salt. However, understandably, some slippery spots get missed. I happened to find those random spots this morning on my run. Quite a few Hagenaars (literally) stumbled upon those spots earlier in the week when The Hague hospitals were inundated with wrist and hip fractures. Today I managed to stay upright with some quite elegant figure skating choreography across the ice in my running shoes. Later, as a driver waited to let me cross over, I had to change my rapid elongated gait on a dry footpath section, to fairy tippy toes on the icy road. I made such sluggish advancement that I think there was eye rolling from the driver. But it’s great to learn new skills, right?