Day 104: Let’s go Bowling
Those of you who know Dieter and me know that we are dedicated bowlers. There was a time that we bowled three times a week: league on Thursdays, practice on Saturday mornings and more practice on Sunday nights. Whether it rained buckets, blew a gale force wind or froze the balls off a brass monkey, we walked to the bowling alley.
A serious illness forced me to drop out of the league and after a painful back injury, I couldn't even practice anymore. For five months I didn’t see the inside of a bowling alley.
Now I’m back though and to commemorate my return Dieter bought two T-shirts, a blue one, and a red one.
One year later I got the same invitation to attend the first anniversary of Dalcrest Bowl and this time I did go. I threw my first ball in the gutter, my second ball followed suit. The third ball rolled quite promising, but near the end, he veered to the left and once again ended up in the gutter. I adjusted my standing and throwing position, threw the ball and once again it looked good, only this time, near the end of the lane, my ball veered to the right and … you guessed it, fell in the gutter. I thought it was the most frustrating game I’d ever played.
When a lady approached me and asked if I wanted to join a league, I thought she was joking. In my first game, I hit … oh I don’t know, 25 or 30 pins, in my second I managed to knock down maybe 50, and in the third game, my score was rather similar. What would a klutz like me do playing with seasoned bowlers?
She convinced me though, I joined a league, started working with a coach, and … well, the rest is history. A few years later I was invited to represent Eastern Transvaal in the Interprovincials three years in a row.