A retired skater
From 2005 till 2013, I split my time between working at the university, enjoying our life in Barcelona and skating in and around Barcelona. But this year I had decided that I should stop with my work because I became this year 70. I had done what I wanted and would enjoy more the life that would be given to Irmtraud and me in the coming years. It happens that I was invited to present a speech at a conference of an organization which I had started in 2005. This conference was in Ljubljana. I made the speech and the last sheet that I presented was the picture below.
I told them that I had decided that I had worked enough and that I now would spend my time on my favorite sport which was speed skating and the club of which I wasa member "Club Pati Barcelona".
This can be said very easily but life can´t be planned so simply. The day after my speech we returned to Barcelona and one day later in the evening Irmtraud had pain in her belly and that got worse and worse. At some moment it was so bad that we had to call for a doctor. The doctor immediately ordered an ambulance and she was brought to the hospital that was the closest to our house. That night she was immediately operated and that saved her life. Two weeks later she could leave the hospital again and we could slowly return to our normal life.
I went back to skating with my friends but there also a serious accident occurred.One day I went with Oliver and Gloria in my car to a trainingclode to the Airport. We were a bit earlier than the others but we were so eager to skate that we started immediately. At some moment Oliver skated in the front, then Gloria and then me.
Because Oliver and me, were former ice skaters, we had the same style, I looked more at his movements than the movements of Gloria. At one moment I hit her skate with my skate and I fell very badly. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I became unconscious and they had to call for an ambulance. I became conscious again in the hospital. There the nurses where so surprised to see a 70 years old person who fell while skating that they told it to others. At one moment there were 6 or 7 nurses around my bed. So much attention I had never had in my life of the female sex. Maybe it helped to recover because by the end of the day I could go home again even though it was quite a bad fall. However I learned to be a bit more careful while skating.
I started with training again but I decided that I was not ready to participate again in the marathon of Valencia but we went as supportesr and tourists to Valencia. This was a good decision because it was raining during the marathon.
This can be said very easily but life can´t be planned so simply. The day after my speech we returned to Barcelona and one day later in the evening Irmtraud had pain in her belly and that got worse and worse. At some moment it was so bad that we had to call for a doctor. The doctor immediately ordered an ambulance and she was brought to the hospital that was the closest to our house. That night she was immediately operated and that saved her life. Two weeks later she could leave the hospital again and we could slowly return to our normal life.
I went back to skating with my friends but there also a serious accident occurred.One day I went with Oliver and Gloria in my car to a trainingclode to the Airport. We were a bit earlier than the others but we were so eager to skate that we started immediately. At some moment Oliver skated in the front, then Gloria and then me.
Because Oliver and me, were former ice skaters, we had the same style, I looked more at his movements than the movements of Gloria. At one moment I hit her skate with my skate and I fell very badly. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I became unconscious and they had to call for an ambulance. I became conscious again in the hospital. There the nurses where so surprised to see a 70 years old person who fell while skating that they told it to others. At one moment there were 6 or 7 nurses around my bed. So much attention I had never had in my life of the female sex. Maybe it helped to recover because by the end of the day I could go home again even though it was quite a bad fall. However I learned to be a bit more careful while skating.
I started with training again but I decided that I was not ready to participate again in the marathon of Valencia but we went as supportesr and tourists to Valencia. This was a good decision because it was raining during the marathon.
Members of Club Pati Barcleona before the start of the marathon
After looking at my colleagues of my skating club, we spent a lot of time looking at the different Calatrava buildings.
go to a new career