Dutch newspapers have run a few articles about what they refer to as ice skating fever; the rush to get out there and ice skate on natural surfaces. This comes as temperatures over the past few days have stayed around the 0 celcius mark, making most lakes and ponds freeze over and seem ready for skating.
But the ice is not safe, according to skating and municipal officials referring to skating fever. Despite the freezing over the ice is technically not thick enough for safe skating and people are taking great risks by doing so right now.
Furthermore according to the weather reports, the ice may not get thick enough for skating this week as temperatures are fluctuating around and sometimes above the zero mark.
So if you do catch skating fever, take a deep breath, drop the skates, and hope for colder weather next week.