Phil's Pétanque Pages
Phil Day, born April 1949 in Nottingham living for the last 20 years or so in Thornton Heath near Croydon, about 9 miles south of London, with my wife Ronny, son Tom and daughter Lucy.
I have been playing pétanque on and off for many years but only seriously from July 1996. I am a member of the Croydon Pétanque Club and a member of the British Pétanque Association. I love the game and am a sucker for all of the toys and trappings that are associated with it, measures ( How many do you really need?.. a lot less than I have in my collection and there is always room for more.) ephemera, books, magazines, pins, posters and well, anything really.
The vision of Pétanque I have deep inside is the classic one of a French village, tree lined square, bar table with red wine, pastis, a little hard sausage perhaps. The smell of Gauloises, the echo from boules striking, the gutteral discussion as to who may be nearer. A tinny radio some way off ...... so why do I seem to have played for the last few months up to my knees in water, wearing a kagool and sou' wester? Starting at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning it's not quite the same but it still is fun.
Perhaps it's the people I have met, an assorted bunch some irritating, some infuriating but almost all kind, welcoming and encouraging.
My other major obsessions are the saxophone, I play alto and tenor, and early music, I play a variety of sizes of recorder and currently am fighting the tabor pipe and Spanish Gralla
I work on computer networks for Cellnet, a major cellular telephone network provider in the UK.
Any news, comments, queries or encouragement email me at phil.day@dial.pipex.com