Ah, snappy snails, Doug, wild things. Patrick, no idea where Boycey is now,
probably a wealthy tradie.
Bill
On Fri, 18 Aug 2017 at 1:18 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> God, autocorrect! I meant, of course, snap, Billā¦
>
> Doug
> > On Aug 16, 2017, at 4:32 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >
> > a snail?
> >
> > On Thu, 17 Aug 2017 at 5:01 AM, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> More a short documentary than a snail, Bill. Lots of info on a past
> >> unshared over here, but relatableā¦
> >>
> >> Doug
> >>> On Aug 16, 2017, at 2:53 AM, Patrick McManus <
> >> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> cheers Bill exploring your schooldays be good to see the game on video
> >> on the net
> >>>
> >>> where is Mark Boyce now?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 15/08/2017 23:20, Bill Wootton wrote:
> >>>> Before school, at recess, lunchtime,
> >>>> we line up parallel with the grey brick wall.
> >>>> First boy looks back along the line,
> >>>>
> >>>> hits the tennis ball with his open palm,
> >>>> underhand, down into the asphalt.
> >>>> Up it bounces onto the wall
> >>>>
> >>>> just above the metal drip shield
> >>>> about eighteen inches up
> >>>> and back to ground somewhere else
> >>>>
> >>>> where the next boy continues,
> >>>> perhaps winding up and smashing it,
> >>>> forcing the third boy to run back to reach it
> >>>>
> >>>> or angling it severely,
> >>>> causing lateral panic for the kid after him.
> >>>> Best of all: the masked, subtle drop shot,
> >>>>
> >>>> from deep in the makeshift 'court'
> >>>> which has no back line
> >>>> or side line for that matter,
> >>>>
> >>>> the only arbiter required,
> >>>> the ping of hitting that tin line
> >>>> causing immediate elimination
> >>>>
> >>>> just as surely as not reaching your shot
> >>>> or not getting ball to wall with one bounce.
> >>>> The number of players keeps whittling down
> >>>>
> >>>> till you're down to the final two.
> >>>> If Boycey's your opponent, watch out!
> >>>> Mark Boyce, acid-tongued slow talker,
> >>>>
> >>>> shock of orange hair and fat freckles,
> >>>> gangly as all get-out and a downball legend.
> >>>> Never seems rushed but he gets there,
> >>>>
> >>>> wherever you put the ball,
> >>>> then he'll thud it back over your head
> >>>> or caress it so it grazes the wall
> >>>>
> >>>> and piddles out to nothing.
> >>>> Self-regulating, all-seasons downball,
> >>>> only fizzled with the coming of cigarettes.
> >>>>
> >>>> bw
> >>
> >> Douglas Barbour
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
> >>
> >> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations &
> Continuations
> >> 2 (UofAPress).
> >> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
> >> Listen. If (UofAPress):
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Violence can only be concealed by a lie,
> >> and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
> >> Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method iss inevitably
> >> forced to take the lie as his principle.
> >>
> >> Alexander Solzhenitzyn
> >>
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations
> 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
> Listen. If (UofAPress):
>
>
> Violence can only be concealed by a lie,
> and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
> Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method iss inevitably
> forced to take the lie as his principle.
>
> Alexander Solzhenitzyn
>
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