Went with June to recce ECP as a possible blading venue. As long as we stay away from the central area where the McD's is, it's a long stretch of beach and it isn't as crowded as we thought, even on a Saturday morning. All along the way there are soft drink and ice-cream vendors, so as long as we bring some cash with us, we'll always be well provided for. A 100 Plus, btw, only costs $1.

There is one major snag, however. We encountered another slope (just 1 significant one), and for June, it was pretty much the same story. June + slope = disaster. My intention was to take the slope first to assess the risk factor for her, and I judged it to be unsuitable for her skill level. But when I turned to go back to advise her, I saw she was already on her decent and there was nothing to do but see how things played out.

Actually, she took the slope pretty well. She stayed on her feet all the way down, so the safest thing for her to do was to simply ride it out and slowly decelerate once she reached level ground. Instead, when it looked like she had arrived safely, she did an equivalent of jamming her brake. Given her velocity, the sudden stop was the very worst thing she could have done. She twisted herself around her injured knee and, well... She's hobbling around again.

I'm now quite convinced that for everybody, there are certain skills that we will never be able to learn beyond a certain level. For me, it's lower primary mathematics and pre-school conversational Mandarin. For June, it's confined-to-the-rink in-line skating.

Celebrated M-i-L's birthday at Jumbo, Gardens. Dumb Chinese seafood restaurant waiter joke of the day: "If you're in a hurry, you can order the Soon Hock. If you can take your time, you can order the Later Hock." Right.