These were the off-duty penguins at the outdoor ice skating rink in the city. They were the most sought after items at the beginning of each session (1 session=1.5 hours) and people had to book to hire them. Lots of little people were holding on tight to keep their little bums off the ice trying to push forward. But it was not easy. Those hired (low quality) ice skating shoes were not the most comfortable footwear for easy walk/skate. So there were a lot of waddling kiddies around. Waddled waddled waddled. Just like penguins. Maybe that’s why they picked penguins as the waddle helper.

The excitement of many soon dwindled once the shoes started pinching and the ice just seemed to get even more slippier, though it’s not. Then the rain started to fall. My own Ms 4 decided enough was enough after just one round. I couldn’t blame her. Trying to keep your balance and skate in the rain was hard enough, she had to hold tight to keep me from falling on my bum. No penguins were sturdy enough to save both of us.

The rink was still full even when the rain fell harder. And it was raining throughout our session as Mr 8 stayed out and had a lot of fun with other brave and well balanced souls. After spending some time huddled up with the off-duty penguins to wait for the others, we decided to leave the rink side for a drier warmer place, which non co-incidentally also served nice coffee and steaming hot chocolates. The off-duty penguins stayed in the rain and soon to be on-duty again for the next session of madness.