While many people here in Canada — myself included — have been cursing the snow, the cold and winter in general, one Winnipeg man has been facing the elements, carving out a backyard rink for hundreds to enjoy.
On Friday, the CBC reported that Bill Martens of Winnipeg was set to unveil his labour of love: a full-sized outdoor skating rink, complete with boards and bleachers carved out of 3,000 blocks of hand-cut snow and ice. Yes, you read that correctly: three thousand!
“There’s well over 3,000 blocks that have to be made,” Martens told the CBC. “They’re all hand-cut, yeah, with a hand saw.”
Martens is making his “outdoor masterpiece” available to local outdoor fundraising events in hopes of raising money for four children’s charities. Canadian Tire has already signed on as a sponsor to the tune of $5,000. The rink was officially opened on Friday in Martens’ Charleswood neighbourhood.
What’s even more impressive is that just a few years ago, Martens, 69 years old, was battling cancer.
“He was so, so sick for quite a while,” Grace Martens, Bill’s wife, told the CBC. “Then to see him like this? I can’t even put it into words, what that does to you. It’s really, really awesome.”
Awesome, indeed. While many people seem to have trouble just shoveling their goddamn driveways after a snowfall, Martens has been hand sawing bricks of snow and ice and assembling them into a piece of work that can be enjoyed by the whole community. When this is mentioned to Martens, he seems to just casually shrug it off.
“If you look back centuries ago, what did they do in Egypt? They built pyramids — big stones… a couple of thousand pounds,” he said. ”This is nothing compared to that.”
Which, of course, begs the question: What the hell have you done with yourself today? Get outside and enjoy some winter, you lazy slob!
[image via Duncan Brown/Flickr]