Oh mine...I miss the Kebabs from England. Their fried chickens are something too.Not quite, I had a boring office job and just shopped at the same supermarket as the Beckhams and even that quite rarely. I was just out of uni and lived on doner kebabs from the corner shop. And red wine
I'm just curious. Where are you from?
- Thread starter Tompson
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- Feb 18, 2014
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I had the pleasure of visiting Riga while touring with my chorus about 10 years ago. I have fond memories of a performance at the town hall with a choir from Riga, especially the wonderful dinner they treated us to afterwards. Latvians know how to party!
Also spent an afternoon at The Museum of Occupation -- such an extraordinary place.
Altogether, a beautiful city with some of the nicest, most hospitable people I've ever met!
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
Thanks, YesWay. Will keep an eye out.
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2012
Says so in my profile but USA! Atlanta, Georgia, home of the 1996 Olympics. Not anymore but I used to pass by the Olympic torch everyday going to work. I always love driving by it again whenever the Olys roll around.
I'm from Poland and here figure skating is a niche sport, but thanks to eurosport we have quite good coverage of figure skating competitions. As for the winter sports - the most popular are: ski jumping (Kamil Stoch and others 
), cross-country skiing (Justyna Kowalczyk) and currently (thanks to Sochi) speed skating.
), cross-country skiing (Justyna Kowalczyk) and currently (thanks to Sochi) speed skating.
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2014
I'm from Poland and here figure skating is a niche sport, but thanks to eurosport we have quite good coverage of figure skating competitions. As for the winter sports - the most popular are: ski jumping (Kamil Stoch and others
Witam!
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- Jan 1, 2013
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There was a Junior Grand Prix there
I think it was the one last year where Brendan Kerry and Michael Christian Martinez nearly upset the applecart by being in medal contention. Phew, I can only imagine the kerfuffle among the established skating countries if both the Philippines AND Australia had been on the podium!Technically you could also claim Lukas Kaugars, but I think he's still more interested in skating for the US at the moment. But he does call himself Latvian.
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
Which Southeast Texas town are you in? I'm in Dallas. I'm surprised and elated to see such diversity in the forum yay... I've been living in the states for a long time, came here from Vietnam so a special hello to the other Vietnamese in the group, I'm glad to know I'm not alone. I lived in Paris for a few years so I am quite "universally influenced", I love all artforms and I love figure skating although I did not grow up knowing it or even skating at all. I'm glad to know that there are now ice rinks back home, I have not returned since I left. I really can't tell if figure skating is popular in Texas or not since it's so hot here in the summer and not cold enough in the winter. We hardly have any snow and when it does, it does not last more than 2-3 days - we do get ice but then again, it does not stick around. COI and SOI used to come to Dallas but all that has stopped, I have not seen a live show in several years. I've always dreamed of attending a skating competition but never have had the chance. May be one day we can organize some sort of get together at certain competition. That would be so cool....
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- Dec 29, 2013
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This thread makes me happy I choose to start posting and learning more about figure skating here. Everyone here 
's Love the diversity and love the debates. Just don't mess with my favorite
's Love the diversity and love the debates. Just don't mess with my favorite
I now live in Houston, Texas. Houston rarely ever gets snow. We get snow and ice less than Dallas does, but when we do it shuts down the city - it's pretty hilarious. Since you live in Dallas, you probably understand my american football analogy since Dallas is home of the Cowboys. I think it's cool that we are very diverse group; it's extremely interesting, the only places I've ever visited outside of the U.S. is Mexico, the Virgin Islands and some Central American countries.
That would be awesome to have some GS 'events' at some competitions.
Same in NYC. 70s & sun here over the weekend & Monday, then last night rain/cold wind. Snow on a few cars & a couple of patches of ice this morning!
Let's just hope it is the last snow till January.
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
I'm from eastern Indiana. We get "local" TV and radio from Dayton, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. IU fan all the way, but honestly, I don't closely follow college sports much anymore. I mostly follow men's tennis—another sport that is not very popular in Indiana—and figure skating.
I hear you about the skating shows. It seems that they are much more popular on the coasts and in the upper Midwest. The last couple of years that COI was still touring in the United States, they cancelled several shows in the Midwest. I remember checking out the Indianapolis shows, and the tickets were pretty high, plus gas, hotel, meals, etc. I told my mom we should probably forget about it. Well, they cancelled the show anyway.
I love Bloomington and Nashville. Are you from that area, or further south?
I am from south western Indiana.
...More southern and westward than IU. Yes! Such a shame ice shows don't come nearer to here. :'( I would so like to go to one! Especially to see some of my favorites before they...likely...retire... *sigh*
And same....I don't really follow college sports. I'm a Boilermaker.....but I couldn't tell you how bad they did in sports this year, LOL.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
Love the diversity and love the debates. Just don't mess with my favorite
100% agree. :thumbsup:
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- Oct 25, 2012
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I absolutely LOVE this thread. Thank you for starting it Tompson!!!
Well, you all know where I am from, as I have made no secret of it since I joined.
Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK
Hi melissa_ire! Whereabouts in Ireland are you? Although you are the only one that has answered in this thread so far, I think that’s now 5 Golden Skate members I know about on this island – 2 in the North (myself included), and 3 in the South!
Mmmm, I wonder who that was you were talking about. I hadn't heard the story before, but I am not at all surprised.
Southern Ireland's top ladies skater is Clara Peters (ISU Bio, Wikipedia page). But, I think if it had been her, I would have heard tell of it.
Before reading your post I, erm, couldn’t think of any other female skaters from the Republic…!!!
: But, I have just looked up the Ice Skating Association of Ireland website, and have come across 2 more - Deirdre Faegre (Junior - ISU Bio) and Brona Nic Gabhann (Advanced Novice. By the way, "nic Gabhann" is Irish Gaelic for "Smith"). But, I couldn't find out much more about either of them.
Things are pretty much the same on my side of the border as they are on your’s. The only Irish people among my Facebook contacts who ever take an interest in figure skating are former figure skaters themselves (Kerry Massey, Karla Quinn, Jenna McCorkell…)
In fact, the only Facebook contacts I have that I see talking about the sport, who are not figure skaters themselves, are either German (1), Italian (1), Russian (quite a few) or Ukrainian (a lot)!
Oh, and I should add – one of the Russians that was talking about the figure skating during the Olympics is actually a motorbike racer and stunt pilot! And she has good taste – she is a massive Plushenko fan!
During the Olympics, I saw one girl that I went to school with saying that she was going to watch the ladies figure skating. But she was the only one. None of my friends are interested in figure skating. Which is the reason I decided to join this forum – so that I could talk to people that were interested.
That said, over the past year, I have seen quite a few people I know posting photos of themselves on the ice. That was purely because there was a temporary rink in Portrush last summer. It was VERY popular, for the simple reason that it was the first time that there had been a rink in the West of the Province since the Jet Centre in Coleraine closed their rink about 10 years ago.
So, there is no shortage of people in the West of Northern Ireland that want to go skating. The problem is that there is a shortage of rinks. You have to travel to the East of the Province to get to a permanent rink. And, if you don’t have a means to get there yourself, you have to rely on the public transport system, which is dire in the West of the Province (the whole railway network closed in the 1950’s, and the busses don’t come nearly half as often as they need to).
There are only 2 permanent rinks in Northern Ireland, and they are both in or around the capital, Belfast. Unsurprisingly then, most of the people that get the opportunity to skate are from the East of the Province, and particularly from the Greater Belfast area.
Dundonald Ice Bowl has been the main home of skating in Northern Ireland ever since it opened in 1986. The Odyssey Arena in Belfast itself opened in 2000, but it’s rink is almost exclusively used for ice hockey. That said, the Odyssey did open the rink up to the public for a few weeks last year, and it went well, so that might become a regular thing.
There is no doubt in my mind that if there were more rinks, and located across the Province, there would be more people skating.
Jenna McCorkell was lucky. She grew up at a time when there was a permanent rink in her home town, Coleraine. If she had been born 10 years later, chances are that she would not have got the opportunity to take those first steps on the ice, and discover that she liked it. And Northern Ireland would have missed out on having the most successful ladies skater in the history of the British Championships.
As for me, my ice skating career started at the Jet Centre in Coleraine, just like Jenna. The difference is that, although I am a year older than Jenna, my first time on the ice was about 10 years after her first time… and I have never been on the ice since! It was awful! I couldn’t stay upright at all, and I ended up doing a lap of the rink clinging to the boards the whole way!
Which is why I have such high admiration for those that we see taking part in figure skating competitions and shows.
CaroLiza_fan
Well, you all know where I am from, as I have made no secret of it since I joined.
Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK
Hi melissa_ire! Whereabouts in Ireland are you? Although you are the only one that has answered in this thread so far, I think that’s now 5 Golden Skate members I know about on this island – 2 in the North (myself included), and 3 in the South!
Mmmm, I wonder who that was you were talking about. I hadn't heard the story before, but I am not at all surprised.
Southern Ireland's top ladies skater is Clara Peters (ISU Bio, Wikipedia page). But, I think if it had been her, I would have heard tell of it.
Before reading your post I, erm, couldn’t think of any other female skaters from the Republic…!!!
: But, I have just looked up the Ice Skating Association of Ireland website, and have come across 2 more - Deirdre Faegre (Junior - ISU Bio) and Brona Nic Gabhann (Advanced Novice. By the way, "nic Gabhann" is Irish Gaelic for "Smith"). But, I couldn't find out much more about either of them.EDIT: I just found another - Fianait Bligh (Junior. By the way, "Fianait" is Irish Gaelic for "Deer"). Can't find a Bio, though.
Things are pretty much the same on my side of the border as they are on your’s. The only Irish people among my Facebook contacts who ever take an interest in figure skating are former figure skaters themselves (Kerry Massey, Karla Quinn, Jenna McCorkell…)
In fact, the only Facebook contacts I have that I see talking about the sport, who are not figure skaters themselves, are either German (1), Italian (1), Russian (quite a few) or Ukrainian (a lot)!
Oh, and I should add – one of the Russians that was talking about the figure skating during the Olympics is actually a motorbike racer and stunt pilot! And she has good taste – she is a massive Plushenko fan!
During the Olympics, I saw one girl that I went to school with saying that she was going to watch the ladies figure skating. But she was the only one. None of my friends are interested in figure skating. Which is the reason I decided to join this forum – so that I could talk to people that were interested.
That said, over the past year, I have seen quite a few people I know posting photos of themselves on the ice. That was purely because there was a temporary rink in Portrush last summer. It was VERY popular, for the simple reason that it was the first time that there had been a rink in the West of the Province since the Jet Centre in Coleraine closed their rink about 10 years ago.
So, there is no shortage of people in the West of Northern Ireland that want to go skating. The problem is that there is a shortage of rinks. You have to travel to the East of the Province to get to a permanent rink. And, if you don’t have a means to get there yourself, you have to rely on the public transport system, which is dire in the West of the Province (the whole railway network closed in the 1950’s, and the busses don’t come nearly half as often as they need to).
There are only 2 permanent rinks in Northern Ireland, and they are both in or around the capital, Belfast. Unsurprisingly then, most of the people that get the opportunity to skate are from the East of the Province, and particularly from the Greater Belfast area.
Dundonald Ice Bowl has been the main home of skating in Northern Ireland ever since it opened in 1986. The Odyssey Arena in Belfast itself opened in 2000, but it’s rink is almost exclusively used for ice hockey. That said, the Odyssey did open the rink up to the public for a few weeks last year, and it went well, so that might become a regular thing.
There is no doubt in my mind that if there were more rinks, and located across the Province, there would be more people skating.
Jenna McCorkell was lucky. She grew up at a time when there was a permanent rink in her home town, Coleraine. If she had been born 10 years later, chances are that she would not have got the opportunity to take those first steps on the ice, and discover that she liked it. And Northern Ireland would have missed out on having the most successful ladies skater in the history of the British Championships.
As for me, my ice skating career started at the Jet Centre in Coleraine, just like Jenna. The difference is that, although I am a year older than Jenna, my first time on the ice was about 10 years after her first time… and I have never been on the ice since! It was awful! I couldn’t stay upright at all, and I ended up doing a lap of the rink clinging to the boards the whole way!
Which is why I have such high admiration for those that we see taking part in figure skating competitions and shows.
CaroLiza_fan
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
Very very close indeed! At this point a meetup during next season is mandatory!I live in MN so we're really really close
Really? Well that makes me appreciate him even more!Poor Ambesi, he had a fight with a lot of Carolina's fan accusing him not being patriotic. His favorite skaters are Yuna and Adelina and Mao.
Anyway thanks (to you and to alebi) for the clarification regarding the subdivision of italian commentary, very useful. Next season I'll try to find some feeds from eurosport ita (fontana's hysterical behavior replaced by another former figure skater with actual competence: jackpot!
). On the other hand it'd mean to betray my beloved british commentary ..mmm..that's a tough decision!
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2014
Oh yes. He also did asked to be excused for his comments, a caldo, about the ladies result.
(fontana's hysterical behavior replaced by another former figure skater with actual competence: jackpot!
Are you me?:think:
Oh yes, that's tough indeed. I had to compromise and so I did record the replays with the British commentators. I adore them.
It depends what you want most. I think Eurosport Ita are much more technical (really very much) with their commentary.
Ambesi himself told me that they decided to work as like Angelo is the Technical Specialist and Ambesi is the Assistant Tech. Specialist. It's true.
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