Palmerston Clubs A C Tournament

I don't usually post specifically about a tournament.  Bearing in mind the way this tournament went and that this blog is partly a sort of diary and there are a few interesting bits (including one for Adrian) I've decided to give it a post of its own.

The Palmerston Clubs tournament is one of the most enjoyable of the many I play in each year and one at which I have always had a memorable and enjoyable time.  The other thing about it is that there has always been a huge variation in the weather over the six days.  We played in the sun and high 20s and in Feilding (see the article and photo below) in the teens and pouring rain.  In the very last game of the tournament for me at Takaro (which was also my best game) we also played in torrential rain and strong wind where I was so desperate not to lose my concentration (it is well known that I would not insult a gnat by claiming to have its attention span) that I played on and was soaked right through to the skin at the end of the game.

I should add that we are not wimps in the croquet world and only stop tournament play when the lawns become unplayable which generally means that they have to be under water.

In short I played the best association croquet I have ever played.  It's still not first class play but for my handicap level it was very satisfying and I managed to be the runner up in the two singles events in which I played and reduced my AC handicap from a 6 to a 5.  Still a way to go to get down to my GC handicap of 2 though.

Ironically in the last game of the last event (the Open Handicap Singles) I played André again (see article below) and won 26:13.

The local press decided there was a story in the 'Scotsman playing in New Zealand' after hearing someone talk about The Godwit (my nickname in some fields given the traveling habits of the Godwit and that it's iconic to New Zealand in the way that the Swallow is in Europe).  Of course there are errors in the story - never believe all that you read in the papers but it gives the game some publicity.

Adrian would have been delighted with the photographer's Canon equipment.  He had two Canon lenses the size of houses one of which fitted the same description as Adrian's  new toy and which was out in the rain.  The photo below was taken from a long way off in very poor light (it has to be really bad if I'm not wearing sun glasses).

Okay this post has far to many uses of the first person singular but wotthehellarachiewotthehell I don't have very many occasions to be so delighted with anything I do so please just accept it on this occasion.

And now for bed.  Another day of underachievement and too many 'to dos' still on the list.