The ice situation

As school started and the ice rinks schedule changed so I actually have choices of where I can go to skate.

My "home ice": pros, it has close 15 to 20 min away, has noon ice for adult figure skating only, it is only $3, it is familiar and I know most of the skaters! Cons, this ice is only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it became crowded at the end of last season and because of some major construction on the expressway driving home takes around 40 min.

The hockey rink is very very close, at the end of last season the ice was quite empty, but their schedule is totally random.

The "new" rink takes 20 minutes to it and 25 minutes to get home. Pros: they have ice Monday through Friday, at the end of last season it was not crowded, and they offer a season pass for $100! Cons: this ice is "public skate" so kids and hockey players are allowed and it is at 11.30, a little early for me as I like to get some work done before I go skating. I calculated that if I skate 3 times a week for $3 as my home rink would bring me to $50 per month, so I decided to pay the season pass anyway.

As I went to the "new" rink for the first session of the season, first week of September... the ice was not made. There weer 2 coaches ate the front desk complaining that it was not made for their session too. It seems as the schedule was new, the zamboni driver was not aware of the ice making schedule. He did the ice half hour into the session, 2 skaters that were on ice already got upset, the rest f us were happy.  And the rest of the week was fine.

The second week on Monday, the ice was not done again. I was explained that the rink created a program the kids from the local high school to try skating and I guess it was not in the schedule, so an ice make was not in the schedule. I asked if they'll add it i the schedule and they said they'll try but anyway they hope to have more of that program happening so ice make may not be consistent. I explained that when I come skating for a specific session the expectation is that the ice is made. As the people that got upset the previous week for interrupting their skating with an ice make got on ice immediately, on chopped ice, I decided to leave to my "home" rink as their ice started at 12. It was same old ice, so if the "new" rink ends up not working out I do have a backup. And that was comforting, because on Tuesday the high school program happened during the public skate, I cannot do much skating dome in that situation. Wednesday was fine, Thursday I took a break. Friday, before the public skate was a hockey game and the ice making was a little late and a little rushed. The driver didn't clean the snow left by the zamboni, there were like 20 pretty large of at least an inch ball. This "snow"  is wet and as ice dries the snow transforms in rocks, super dangerous.I let the front desk know and we picked up what we could but I was still catching debris so I decided to skate just in the middle. It left me worried about this "new" rink working out, it's just that I skated there for almost 2 months in the summer and it was fine.

From then on, ice was fine!