Join us for an open day from the Copenhagen Pétanque club.
Last weekend I met with Eric, on a sunny day in Enghaveparken. He’s a former player of Denmark’s national team. I heard his idea – let’s invite people to have their best day in Copenhagen. Pétanque in a beautiful park, delicious BBQ, live music, and a telescope too because why not! No sign up required, just show up with a bottle of Rosé wine. Sounds great to me! Eric wants people to feel welcome to try something new. It doesn’t matter if you are a pro like him or if you’ve never played in your life, like me.
Eric is staring at the sunspots, and we go through the usual facts. Those are places where the magnetic field pops out of the sun. We carefully practice how to say that in danish: “Solpletter er steder hvor magnetfeltet stikker ud af solen. De er kolder er resten af solen, bare 4.000 grad.” He leans up from the eyepiece. “Do you want to play a round of pétanque?”
I always get nervous when I try something new, and this pro wants to play a round with me. Well, anyone can learn to use a telescope, anyone can learn to play pétanque. “This is the jack”, he shows me a small red ball in his hand. He tosses it some meters in front of us. He takes his stance, right foot forward, focuses on the jack, then lobs his pétanque ball forward.
“Just try to get your balls closer than mine.”
My turn. The first ball lands way too short.
“Try again!”, Eric encourages me. My second ball rolls closer than his! His next too miss. That’s a point for me! Did I really just score against a professional on my first try? We play a few more rounds, up to 13 points. I didn’t win, but I did have a couple more nice tosses. It all felt so easy, so accessible. Do I have a new hobby now?
Eric needs to leave, so he hops on his bicycle. “Vi ses igen i Juni!”
I linger with the Pétanque club and show a few more of them. Some long time members invite me for a few games. I didn’t score one single point the rest of the afternoon. Eric had played me! He placed precisely his shots to give the feeling of an exciting, instructive introduction. Anyone can do it! And that was smart. He got me started, because he made it feel easy. That’s what we try to do with street astronomy too.
See you there, in Enghaveparken?