Roller Skaters

- Oh, I'm so bored!
The woman behind the disc in the paper department at Åhléns City stretches as I put the pens on the disc. The department is almost empty and she seems eager to go home.
   Outside they're skating.

The crowd cheers as Earlwin Lawrence escalates down the stairs walking on his hands.
We are standing in front of the Culture House - right in the middle of Plattan - in a crowd of people, who all, just like us, wants to see some roller-skating.
It all began seven years ago as Earlwin left England to go to Sweden.
- Nobody was skating then, Earlwin says. I must have been the only one.
Probably with the in-lines invasion he met other skaters.
- Swedes are so shy, Earlwin says. They never skate together in groups. They tagged along and soon they were a group who skated together. Just for the fun of it.
- But Swedes are so shy, Earlwin says. They don't like to be skating in groups.
Earlwin himself can be considered as something of a veteran. He has been skating for twenty years and even auditioned and passed for the English show Starlight Express ( a show involving singing and dancing on skates ). But he got a job just at the time, so having to choose between the job or touring one year with the Starlight Express and the going back to being unemployed, he took the job.
- But I don't regret I did it. I auditioned and passed so I know I could do it, Earlwin says with a smile.

Jimmie Håkansson has been skating for six years. He's skating on in-lines, just like most of the other guys, because it's in right now.
- But it's really cool that some of the guys have stuck to the traditional roller-skates, Jimmie says.
- In-lines are just in right now. It's easier to get hold of the stuff you need if you're on in-lines. The offering of spare parts is bigger than for roller-skates.
- Still, it's hard to get hold of good skating stuff in Sweden. In France they have good stuff, and London, Jimmie says. Or so I've heard, from people who've been there. But it's decreasing.
Though most of the guys are skating with no more protection than a pair of gloves accidents are rare.
- Would be if someone goofed and hurt himself, Jimmie says, just as somebody goofs and falls down the large staircase leading down to the square. Fortunatley no one got hurt, and the skater is back on the top of the stairs, ready to re-do the trick.