Tenpin

Tonight I took part in a historic event: the first-ever social outing of the Enterprise Group. The kick-off was a bout of tenpin bowling, which in the Netherlands we just call bowling. (Ninepin bowling does exist but is called "kegelen", which is a proper Dutch word and thereby shows it is the older variant.)

To be fair, it might not be absolutely true that this was the first event. Certainly there are Christmas dinners and participation at the Computer Science Quiz. But now there is a fresh initiative by James Williams and Adolfo Sanchez-Barbudo Herrera to have a bit more activity. I felt honour-bound to join in, but would have done so in any case.

Got the T-shirt

Joining in actually required a bit of juggling as tonight was also the last opportunity to acquire my T-shirt for the 5th Sweatshop Run Club attendance. Which in turn was thrown into doubt by the physical protest my body was organising, through what by lack of a more expert opinion I will continue to call bursitis. However, Dic Lofenac is a wonderful guy and had me feeling well enough to risk another sleepless night in return for another tangible memory of my time here. So I went there at 18:30, planning to finish my run at 19:00, get back to the apartment, shower and eat, leave again at 19:30 and be at the bowling alley at 20:00. Sounds impossible? Read on...

Tonight the SRC organisers turned out to have planned another interval speed test, just like the very first time I attended. That was a lot more stressful than I had bargained for, and in fact I was planning to take it very easy. Taking it easy caused me to run up together with a girl whose asthma was playing up and who was thinking of doing only a single lap instead of the suggested two or three. That suited me very well in turn. so morally strengthened by the fact that I was not the only one, I cheated a bit and turned back early.

The bowling Gang of Four: Xavier, Jim, Seyyed, Adolfo

As you can imagine, that did not only reduce the effort involved from "totally irresponsible" to merely "ridiculous" but also did wonders for my schedule. I am proud to say, moreover, that my by now at least reasonable knowledge of York's byways allowed me to make it to the bowling alley in very good time. So at 19:58 I latched my bike to a tree in the absence of alternative parking spots, well in time to join the other guys.

What do you know: the bowling alley was the spitting image of the Go Planet Bowling in Enschede! Same controls, same silly clips shown on the screen after every throw. We had proper good fun, possible Jim was a bit miffed that I beat him, but hey I'll be gone in two days!