The Vets

Yesterday I won the Veterans Association Croquet Handicap Singles.  I could have made that a Thankful Thursday post but for the fact that when we returned to the Motel we invited several lots of  croquet people staying at the motel to join us in our (very spacious) unit for a wee libation and  some nibbles and after that a croquet friend staying nearby in his campervan joined us for dinner and by the time he departed it was bedtime and I was far too tired to do as I am tonight and sit up and write a post.

This morning when Judy woke me with a cup of tea at 0545 I wondered how it was that I could have had all that sleep and still feel so tired.  

As I surveyed all the wine bottles I wondered what on earth the person cleaning the unit would have thought of us so I decided to write him/her a little note.  The motel owner said this evening that he's heard the story!  The cleaner just left us a little addendum to our note.

Another Tournament

Tonight I am in Dannevirke for the annual Veterans Croquet Tournament.  This year the entries will be reduced because The Croquet Women's Worlds is being held in Tauranga at the same time. 

I drove down (Dannevirke is about 90 minutes South of Napier) on a road made in heaven for The Handbag.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and the road is winding, hilly and almost completely free of traffic.

22nd New Zealand Veterans' Golf Croquet Championship

was held last week at the Manawatu Association in Fielding. The lawns were completely different to the lawns we who play in Hawkes Bay are used to because they were exceptionally dry and very very fast. This stood us in good stead for the next tournament in Wanganui where the lawns were equally fast.

I played pretty indifferent Croquet and managed to come somewhere in the middle in the doubles and singles events.

However the company was excellent and overall the tournament was a success and some very good acquaintanceships were formed. Which was good because some of the people also followed on to Wanganui and the socialising was excellent.

The following photos are a sequence of a jump shot by one of the top players, Bill Heavy. On this occasion it failed because the lawn was so good for jumping that the ball hit the top bar of the hoop. On my fist jump of the day I actually jumped over the top of the hoop. He is playing the blue ball.