Osborne Street on the south side of Verdun is usually quiet — but the past week, it’s been the site of skates and scraping shovels. A townhouse on the street is now the site of a homemade skating rink built just off the sidewalk.
The yard belongs to David Socha, who was thinking of ways the neighbours could keep playing with their kids past summertime. “It was just a desire to do the same thing in the winter because everyone is inside,” he said.
“It’s so amazing,” said Kimberly Flowers, a neighbour. “I’ve been living here for nine years and it’s always something special and it’s always for the kids.” In the past, for example, Socha’s stairs were the site of an ice slide.
It took Socha and his neighbours about 15 hours to build in total. Only two things now seem to be a threat to the prospect of winter fun on the ice in Verdun — a potential swerve in temperature slated for Thursday, and kids having to go back to school.