water from a fire hydrant, and turn them into a skating rink. It only took us a couple
of hours. The canvas fire hoses (we used two) soon got a coating of ice on them and
would stick to the ground very quickly if we weren't careful. We used the spray
nozzles rather than the full jets. In this way the water froze and became slush in the
air before it landed, and so quickly formed a layer of uneven ice. To get the surface
flat enough to skate on, we flooded the water out of the hoses at reduced pressure
as we retreated toward the gate. A surprising side effect was that we created a local
fog which flowed down the hill and covered the rest of the camp. This fog froze into
rime and covered all the buildings with hoar frost. The water we were using was
comparatively so 'hot' that it steamed in the severe conditions. When we tried to
take off our heavy greatcoats all the front of them was caked in ice to over 1/2"
thick and had turned into something like armour plate. It took 20 minutes standing
in front of one of the large central-heating radiators in the Mess toilet (tiled floor)
before we were be able to undo the buttons, by which time the water from the
thawing ice was running across the floor and down the drain. The lads, who bought
skates in the village, took advantage of the rink and it proved very popular,
especially on sunny days when, in spite of the lack of a reading on the thermometer,
they could get quite warm provided they kept on the move. There were some
extremely comical scenes as beginners took to the ice for the first time and caused
much hilarity among the spectators. Morale, up to this time, had been low but this
episode did a lot to improve it.
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