Field of Frustration

Once in a while, because of our inability to achieve a goal, we experience frustration.

But yesterday in Petaluma despite strong gusts of wind, there was a permanent cloud of frustration hanging all over the pétanque field.
In all my born days I have never heard so many “merde” or seen so much hand wringing than yesterday at the Oak Hill Park.

The pétanque field in Petaluma is (let me try to find the right word) highly unpredictable. The ground is strewn with small pebbles that will deflect just about any unlucky boule landing on it. And yesterday you needed a lot of luck.

The poor slobs (like me) who seldom venture to Oak Hill Park were bogged down in a permanent state of frustration. Pebbles thwarted so many of my shots, that I could barely contain myself. As the saying goes, I had just about all I could take of myself.

Even Petalumians  (who play there regularly) where struggling. But I am ahead of myself. The opposing teams were as follows:

For Marin we had:

1- Sandra Shirkey, Mark Shirkey, Noel Marcovecchio
2- Alain Efron, Francois Moser, Sabine Mattei
3- Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Marc Davantes
4- Charlie Davantes, Liv Kraft, Helga Facchini

On the Petaluma side:

1- Bleys Rose, David Hale, Dennis Zerbo
2- Ed Porto, Hans Kurz, Larry Brown
3- David Lindsay, Jimmy Johnson, Dougie Coleville
4- Albert Woodbury, Caitlin Woodbury, John Virbill

On our second encounter with Petaluma at Oak Hill Park, we didn’t do that much better than in our first encounter.
Petaluma won 11 games and Marin 5.

As a (poor) excuse, I choose to blame the weather. It was cold and extremely windy and few people play well entangled in a heavy jacket.

The saving grace for Marin, was the brilliant performance of the Henry, Calvert and Marc Davantes team. They won 3 out of 4 games and barely lost their last game 10/13.
We might have to throw a parade for them in Marin.

On the Petaluma side, Ed Porto, Hans Kurz and Larry Brown also won 3 games.

The proceeds from both encounters were split between the 2 clubs.

In conclusion:

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

Alain