The Ice-Bathing-Story, experienced and told by Ines
A quite everyday Sunday or the total
insanity
"Arise, only the early
bird catches the worm" a voice called. The first thing I saw, when I laboriuosly
opened my heavy lids, was my father, dressed with his newest training suit.
Not even ten minutes later we sat already in our car, which one could easily
mistake with a deep-freezer. It was 9 o`clock now and after half an hour
of grace period - never half an hour appeared to be so short - we reach
the bathing beach. Hardly being stepped out of the car, someone
shifted an axe into my hand. After a friendly flip on the shoulder
I shifted towards the ice. At the same moment it became conscious to me
for the first time, what consequences my decision will have. In front of
me a frozen lake. Together with two other crazy
people I moved onto the ice and began to chop a hole into it.
After some minutes the other suceeded in advancing the water by their axes
and so the icy water came to me. After the hole was finaly big enough and
I was sprayed full of water, my small sister and many others ran themselves
warm (for me, the sweat was already running, because of ice heels.)...
. Now I could finaly show how courageous I really am. I slipped quickly
out of my clothes ang achieved the ice-hole as the first. With full energy
I wanted to fall into water, but this energy was gone abruptly when my
large toe came into contact with the water surface... .On the way back
I realized with a frightened glance, that all the others wanted to bath
now. I was pushed backwards to the edge of the ice hole by the rolling
masses. Bad enough that two thick ladies obstrucked my view,
no, to make it worse, an ice-floe shifted inside my neck. My worst nightmare
- death by ice-floe -
seemed to become true. How I survived these minutes I do not know, but
to my luck the masses shifted themselves back again to the live-saving-ledder.
Finally outside, I ran over the ice to my bath-shoes being left there.
I tightened them and promptly fell on the nose - frozen!
Nothing more could go wrong, I thougt. Unfortunately I made the calculation
without my wet trousers, whose legs had been frozen in the meantime. After
I had taken this last hurdle, I proudly sat in the car finally. I had managed
it!!! Who of you also want to try it once, has to come to the Orankesee,
Sundays at 10 o`clock. I also participate then again!
