Thursday 10 November 2011

Thankful Thursday: Croquet

I was sitting in the Study here in The Cottage trying to decide what I was thankful about which could be bloggable and which I hadn't already blogged about.  Then an email came in with a comment which Jenny Woolf of An English Travel Writer had put on my post Home in New Zealand: The First Day Back in which she asked if Croquet was a popular game in New Zealand.  

The answer in short, Jenny, is in the affirmative.  I have just looked it up and I have mentioned croquet in 203 posts so far on this blog.  But then I am rather addicted to it.

So today I am thankful for the huge part that croquet has played in my life over the last few years:  for the friends I have made through it; the places I have seen travelling to tournaments; the hospitality I have enjoyed at tournaments; and the incredible personal satisfaction I have had playing such a wonderful game.

10 comments:

  1. The best bit is your putting hoops up......I really enjoyed that one.

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  2. Goodness, that's interesting. It must be one of those things that caught on in NZ in Victorian days and stayed popular. Here in England, it's considered a rather unusual game, and I'd imagine also in Lewis :) fascinating really the way you have 2 separate lives, I wonder what it would be like!

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  3. Only 203 - it seems like more... I trust there will be even more (about successes and good times) over the next few months as well.

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  4. ooooh, what swank!

    Globe trotting blogs.

    SP x

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  5. Yes, Adrian, that was an opportunity for a bit of a fun post.

    It's unusual in England but a surprising number of people play it but I suspect few people on Lewis have even heard of it unless they've read Alice in Wonderland.

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  6. CJ, I've even managed to bore myself with some of my croquet blogs. I have even given up recording my successes!

    Two lives: two blogs. It's simple SP. Just how I like things!

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  7. I wish you another happy croquet season. And everyone like to share in your successes.

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  8. Croquet seems to have been more popular in Sweden back in the mid 1900s (and earlier!) but as a private garden game rather than organized competitions. We used to play it in my grandparents' garden in the summers. Wooden clubs and wooden balls, back in those days. I think our hoops are/were also set up different from yours. You can see what it looks like here (Something to try if you ever get bored with the New Zeland way of doing things!)

    Good luck with this season!

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  9. Well the only time I ever played croquet was in the most unusual circumstances. I was a film extra and we spent a lot of time sitting around - as you do. The film was set in the Edwardian period and we had to wear these Edwardian costumes. There wasn't much to do and we noticed the croquet hoops on the lawn. Cue for a summer spent playing croquet in long skirts and the men in formal wear. Really added to the fun.

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  10. There is a club at Pt Chevalier where I live in Auckland.

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