Wednesday 16th May saw everyone in the Car Park at WSP. So pleasant when it's warmer. 8 players turned out so they played doublettes. One member had a lovely set of brand new Boules Bleu. We were all most envious. The newest newcomer shows promise to be a good shooter.
And so on to Thursday, 17th with a visit to the Bear at Home in North Moreton. When they play there the Pub's petanque piste is used. Part of it is very good, but the bottom part has been used for bonfires so the ground is 'dead'. Good practice! The Aunt Sally* pitch is also used. Both pitches go uphill, or downhill, depending where you are standing. Everyone likes playing on the Aunt Sally pitch as the downward direction is nice for plombé and the uphill, which includes the pole, has some interesting opportunities.
*Aunt Sally is a game, similar to skittles, played in Oxfordshire (and a few other English Counties. It involves putting a 'dolly' on a pole, and then hurling chunks of wood at it to try to knock it off. If you hit the dolly you score a point. If you hit the pole, you don't. It also appears to involve a lot of noise because the blackboard used for scoring has 'NEIGHBOURS!' chalked on it. We use the blackboard for our scoring too, and we try to keep our noise down! This is also where the bird likes to sit ... see below.
One of our players (C) arrived with her camera. T noticed C staring at the blackboard for a long time. Funny that, she thought, the score is not that interesting. When she got back down to that end she saw that C was in fact looking at a collared dove sitting on the pole supporting the board. G also saw the bird and invited it to sit on his hand. After a while it flew off and sat on T's head! T looks a bit anxious - it could have left her a lucky present ...
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It eventually flew back to its perch in the tree and everyone played some more. But it was determined to join in and flew out and sat on P's head.
It eventually flew back to its perch in the tree and everyone played some more. But it was determined to join in and flew out and sat on P's head
G went to remove it and it sat on his head!
Much fun was had by all. Perhaps it will still be there next week.
