BOWLING with BERYL

She is 86! Not one of the chosen ones to play in a team, but I enjoy playing with her as her love of the game is displayed on her face.

We are playing club-selected triples. B is the lead.

Whatever has happened during the end is mostly missed by B as she always asks whether we are up or down as we cross over. If down, her expression is tense. If up, the smile warms the heart.

When it is my turn to play she gets quite excited, clapping and happy, if the shot looks good but her body language says it all if my shot is obviously not going to feature in the finish. Hands flap towards the ground, head shakes and then droops.

The green on the day was pretty fast and B's normal shot is bum up and chuck. This causes, 97% of the time, the bowl to end up in the ditch or out of bounds and out of play. Still she soldiered on for 18 ends when we lost 18/13.

Her disappointment, however, did not last long and was over by the time we all shook hands and went into the clubhouse for her 'medicine', which is a glass of white wine. The medicine sometimes needs to be administered BEFORE the game.

B also told me that she takes a carafe of wine to bed which gives her a very good night's sleep.

A few years ago I gave her a Christmas Card and wrote 'I smile each time I see you'. She told me later that she had thrown out the other cards but was keeping mine to put up each year.

In her youth she was a dancer at the Tivoli theatre in Sydney and can still put her leg up a pole - she just has trouble keeping her bowl out of the ditch.