Ever tried ice skating to work or the supermarket? If you're in Netherlands right now, you'll get to do that. And that's not just because it's all the rage there.
The European country is experiencing an unusually chilly spell this winter, causing a number of locals to skate on the streets in some areas to get to their destinations.
"Video after video being uploaded to YouTube shows Dutch citizens in a winter wonderland, busting out the ice skates and turning their roads into giant ice skating rinks," News 96.5 said.
It was reported that the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute announced an advisory for motorists in the northeastern region of the nation, warning them to keep off the roads in the wake of Tuesday's snowfall that covered various parts of the area with slippery ice, as reported by The Huffington Post.
The said snowfall had also affected transportation services in Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe.
"Dutch media reported that court hearings were cancelled along with some hospital appointments," the BBC said.
However, in a country where ice skating is very popular and is known for producing Olympic-level skaters, it's inevitable that locals would make the most of the situation and get their blades out instead.
"Many used the opportunity to take advantage of the unusual conditions, forming makeshift skating rinks on roads or practising curling with beer crates," Sky News said. "Video footage showed sheep struggling to stay upright, people playing ice hockey on highways and children figure skating in playgrounds."
It can be recalled that Dutch skaters proved their mettle on the ice at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
"Dutch athletes took home 24 out of 36 possible medals in speedskating events during the Sochi Games -- 23 in long-track speedskating and one in short-track," The Huffington Post pointed out. "They also won seven speedskating medals at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and nine at the 2006 Turin Games."
It was even observed that the Dutch excellence in speed skating had intimidated athletes from other countries in the same event, with the whole Norwegian team withdrawing from the 10,000m event in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Skating historian Marnix Koolhaus put it down to the assumption that they were going to lose to the Dutch.
In 2012, a similar deep freeze had turned water canals in Amsterdam into ice. Naturally, the locals decided to take the opportunity to turn the frozen waterways into skating rinks, The Huffington Post said in a previous piece.
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