Categories
Fun Facts re Petanque Jersey

Boules Mountain – Get a view of the Coche

Boules Mountain.

This may be the first and last time that any of us playing in this match will see a boule bounce and land on 3 other boules and remain straddled across all three boules. It almost looks as though the boule could have been deliberately placed on the the other boules but with a high lob, soft landing on the gravel and a little bit of back spin the boule had slowed sufficiently enough not to disturb the holding boules.

For the third year in a row a group of City of Bath Boulistes descended on Jersey to test their skills in the Jersey and Carrefour Open tournaments. Our hosts had replaced last years wet, cold and windy weather with bright blue skies and temperatures not seen in the UK this year. Worth the trip alone.

In what was to become probably the most bizarre event of the tour and not previously seen by any of the players participating in one of the matches between a Guernsey team and the City of Bath – the boule mountain. In what can only be described as unbelievable, one of the players managed to bounce his boule on to a cluster of boules and leave it straddled on the top of 3 other boules. So extraordinary, that the game was delayed for 5 minutes while a camera was found and pictures taken from several different angles.

Could the dambusters have thrown a better spinning boule?

Our thanks to our hosts for a magnificent weekend and we will be returning next year to renew old friendships and take on the challenges left undone this year.

Boule Mountain
How to perch your boule on other boules
Bouncing boules
Boules on a Mountain!
Space is expensive
Boule Mountain perspective
How to bounce your boule
Boule Mountain Success
Categories
Aix-en-Provence Fun Facts re Petanque

Stop the Tram, we have to finish our game!

Included in the 1932 film by Marcel Pagnol  “Fanny”   a famous scene in which a tram is stopped in its tracks in order to allow the game to continue (the clip is unsubtitled but, as ever in Provence, the gestures speak volumes).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0PhfNNZN4c

However one of pétanque’s most venerable and amusing traditions, the Fanny, is apparently unconnected with Pagnol. La Fanny, qu’est-ce que c’est?