French Women Don't Get Facelifts by Mireille Guiliano

Author:Mireille Guiliano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Health & Fitness / Beauty & Grooming
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2013-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

PÉTANQUE

Tennis, like golf, is another recreational sport played long into life and popular in many of the world’s developed and developing nations, including France in recent years; however, as a participatory sport, my French compatriots enjoy bicycling first and increasingly pétanque, a favorite of mine as it can be played with people of all abilities and, like golf, facilitates social communication. In France, a country of 65 million people, nearly 20 million play.

Pétanque until recently was played mostly in Provence and the South of France in general, as well as in Corsica and Spain (and, of course, in Italy, its close cousin is called boccie). Its popularity (and addiction) has spread in recent decades, and I had a hand in the 1990s in introducing pétanque tournaments around the United States to celebrate Bastille Day. Summer tourists from England and elsewhere have brought it back home, and it is common in such French outposts as Quebec, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

It is a team sport, with teams of two, three, or four persons taking turns against another in trying to place their metal balls closest to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet. There’s plenty of skill levels and strategies, but pétanque can be enjoyed by children, novices, and modest (read dismal) athletes like me with joy equal to that of professionals. And it provides an occasion for a lot of beneficial socializing.

As a frequent visitor to and resident of Provence, I’ve seen it played by the old geezers in the villages since I was a child, including on Christmas Day! There are 570 clubs in Provence alone in the Ligue PACA de pétanque et jeu provençal, which has 50,000 members that cover six départements. I started playing it a bit as an adolescent and have not gotten bored by it yet, though I’ve never indulged daily like some of the men and women in my village. Lots of people play on weekends, including in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. It is also played in New York City, including in Washington Square Park, where I enjoy watching the regular teams play.

As I am writing this passage, it’s August and a film called Les Boulistes (boules is a vernacular expression for pétanque) is being shot in my department (#13…named Bouches-du-Rhône) in the heart of Provence. The cast includes Gérard Depardieu. A series of sights in the area are being used as filming locations to show the diversity of Provençal locations and decor.

In my world of Provence, pétanque is often played late afternoon in the shade under the platanes or mûriers sauvages trees near the village center when the sun is no longer too, too hot (though often it is still sizzling). The game is an ideal predinner activity with the classic glass of pastis (with or without alcohol; count me without to see the ball and win the game). The game can be played on any relatively flat open space, though an official tournament court is called a boulodrome and is a rectangle at least 4 meters wide and 15 meters long.

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