I’ve tried teaching myself a few times to skate in them, so far i’ve not got very far. I often fall over and am very grateful of those silly looking pads that break the fall quite well.

I can remember flying though the air and landing on the pads, friends rushing over to see if I was OK and it was strange that all the impact had been stopped in those pads – they didn’t look strong enough althou I was glad for it.

The idea to learn would be a way for exercise and transport at the same time. You can get all over the place on roller blades – its like walking/running but not

A friend from uni times used to skate to uni each day – they only lived within the town centre so it wasn’t far but they got across campus very quickly.