Here in the south of France, we call it pétanque, and it's indeed a very popular.... sport (?) amongst the elders.
To me it's one of those sports/activities that are almost more fun to watch then to play. It reminds me of the elders in my village when I was kid, playing pétanque together for one or two hours in the summer early evenings, drinking pastis while waiting for dinner to be served at home. It was never a sport, there was no competition; they were barely even counting points, but it was a good excuse to get together, away from the house, the wife and the TV. The rules are so simple even a young kid like me could understand them in 5 minutes; the equipment is the price of the two pints and easily transportable; a game meant for everyone of any age, a respite from the hardships of the day.
Nicely written piece Thomas. More prose than essay, almost short-story material. Really liked it.
Really enjoyed this piece, beautifully written, descriptions are very vivid. It felt like I am on the balcony, watching the "action".
I saw Sebastien's comment below and tried to remember similar games or activities in Russia but could only remember the elders playing chess, checkers, or dominoes (+ different card games maybe). These are not very "physical activities" but I think they have a similar vibe. Probably, it's more about just hanging out, chatting and the game is just a background for it. But *I can only speculate* from my experience. I am gonna make a VERY weird comparison now, please be prepared. We are not old (yet) but, when we play online games with my friends who live in different counties, we do it mostly for chatting, the game's results do not matter as well as the game choice, we don't put the effort in it, etc. It's just a phone call with our hands busy with gamepads and drinks, like the hands of the characters in your story are busy with bowls. And although it's purely virtual and not analogue experience, I think it has a similar vibe inwardly. I believe when we will get older we'll do the same thing, simply because we can't play in the park together (sadly or not) but we want to chat.
Looking forward to more stories like this one. Cheers!
I'm currently on a quest to re-read all of these essays at work-pretending hours and today I thought "oh, today's is just that one about the old folks playing this english game (sigh)", nothing existential, no deep title...
But again I was quite amazed because beyond reflections and deep-existential questions I got myself deliberately smiling, reading about a tiny little event in a delicate and detailed momentum of the author's attention. It's why these essays are great as they are, you can turn off your head searching for meaning and just be - as the old men on the bowling green.
Here in the south of France, we call it pétanque, and it's indeed a very popular.... sport (?) amongst the elders.
To me it's one of those sports/activities that are almost more fun to watch then to play. It reminds me of the elders in my village when I was kid, playing pétanque together for one or two hours in the summer early evenings, drinking pastis while waiting for dinner to be served at home. It was never a sport, there was no competition; they were barely even counting points, but it was a good excuse to get together, away from the house, the wife and the TV. The rules are so simple even a young kid like me could understand them in 5 minutes; the equipment is the price of the two pints and easily transportable; a game meant for everyone of any age, a respite from the hardships of the day.
Nicely written piece Thomas. More prose than essay, almost short-story material. Really liked it.
Really enjoyed this piece, beautifully written, descriptions are very vivid. It felt like I am on the balcony, watching the "action".
I saw Sebastien's comment below and tried to remember similar games or activities in Russia but could only remember the elders playing chess, checkers, or dominoes (+ different card games maybe). These are not very "physical activities" but I think they have a similar vibe. Probably, it's more about just hanging out, chatting and the game is just a background for it. But *I can only speculate* from my experience. I am gonna make a VERY weird comparison now, please be prepared. We are not old (yet) but, when we play online games with my friends who live in different counties, we do it mostly for chatting, the game's results do not matter as well as the game choice, we don't put the effort in it, etc. It's just a phone call with our hands busy with gamepads and drinks, like the hands of the characters in your story are busy with bowls. And although it's purely virtual and not analogue experience, I think it has a similar vibe inwardly. I believe when we will get older we'll do the same thing, simply because we can't play in the park together (sadly or not) but we want to chat.
Looking forward to more stories like this one. Cheers!
I could imagine you partaking in bowling.
I used to watch it on TV and I couldn't even tell you why. There's something calming about it.
I'm currently on a quest to re-read all of these essays at work-pretending hours and today I thought "oh, today's is just that one about the old folks playing this english game (sigh)", nothing existential, no deep title...
But again I was quite amazed because beyond reflections and deep-existential questions I got myself deliberately smiling, reading about a tiny little event in a delicate and detailed momentum of the author's attention. It's why these essays are great as they are, you can turn off your head searching for meaning and just be - as the old men on the bowling green.