To the Table of Dreams! … late afternoon on Thursday. We were a little rushed but a recent downpour had just finished. You need to make hay and get those spin shots in whilst the sun still shines, etc.
Unfortunately the table of dreams didn’t have quite enough time to dry out; one corner of the table still had a puddle. We were without a cloth.
The tactic soon became clear: TWAT the ball into the puddle so it would just die flat on the table. In the end it became more tricky to try and complete this manoeuvre than just play a conventional winning shot.
The sun was now incredibly strong. One end of the table was almost unplayable as you couldn’t see a bloody thing, even with the shades on. Time was also very tight; I had to cut my losses and walk away losing 2-1.
The reason for the sharpish getaway was because we were booked in for a Thursday social pickleball session up at the tennis club. We made the short bicycle journey up towards the top of the town, trying to put our pickleball heads on.
Switching from a very very short form of bat and ball to one not quite so short was quite technical. I can put a spin on for table tennis but not for pickleball. I didn’t know at times if I was Arthur or Martha.
There was a good turnout for the Thursday social. We had eight people playing two games of doubles. We were able to switch around after each game, with losers staying at the bottom. I didn’t move all evening.
One particular loss was so brief that we had a little interchanging between the foursome and played a second game whilst waiting for the other to finish. I was playing with the king of spin this time; we managed to pickle our opponent’s 11-0.
