A shot at Snooker: August 2012
We were on the way to the farm in Wales and for a break in the journey stayed two days in Hever Castle (see Hever Castle - Aug 2012). There was a snooker room in the complex and on the first evening we made a bee line for the room hoping to find it not occupied, there was nobody about so we had the chance to ‘play’ a round.
I say ‘play’ because I hadn’t had a cue in the hand since my youth and only very rarely on a full
sized table. A little pool here and there in Germany over the years, but not your ‘proper game’. I walked around the table and it took ages! I had just forgotten how large a full size table wasit was such a size.
The professionals walk miles in a tournament. I’ve little interest in the world of sports not your fanatical type in any way. If there’s something of interest on I’ll watch, but I won’t go out of my way to build my time around it. I have what one may call a contrast program in my likes in sport. I follow Formula One as a ‘couch watcher’ when at home on the weekends, I wouldn’t go unless it’s Monte Carlo and in the pit area and that will never happen. Actually I did have the opportunity to walk a part of the circuit in October 2006... (see Monte Carlo).
I think I have always been interested in snooker. It was always a popular sport in England, always on the box. In Germany it took up in the 90s when it became popular because of the Eurosport channel. Germany has its own circuit in the meantime. With F1 its team work and high tech. and therefore as an observer one only sees the race and not all the work behind the scenes, one can appreciate it, but not see it in its entirety. It’s different with snooker, apart from being a lot quieter. You see everything, the players, the table and if you have watched enough over the years, you know near enough what the next move(s) will be. The theory - pure physics, the practise - years of training. There’s no hectic - stress yes - but all are reserved234 and polite, white gloves and bowties. From tactics I think it’s the best of the billiard games.
My parents had a small table/ board, when we felt like a game we would lay it on the dining room table, unless there was a jigsaw puzzle under construction (see Jigsaw Puzzles). One adjusted the level by turning foot screws at each corner. The room was not that big and for some of the shots one had to go into trick shot mode and hold the cue almost vertical so as to hit the ball, it’s a wonder there wasn’t, over the years, any holes in the cloth.
When we moved here into the house, it was a time when I was looking at a lot of snooker on the TV. I really thought about getting a full table, a Strachan with all the trimmings, there was enough space in the cellar (weight not being a problem - all that slate) and I could then play any time I felt like it. As with lots of ideas this one faded away. This was a good thing, because 18 years later in the snooker room of Hever castle, I found that I was hopeless in playing.
It was not only the enormous distances and power to send the cue ball on its mission, but mainly due to my back and eye problem, which made it virtually impossible to take a shot. With my curved back I could in no way take the typical stance that one needs to make a shot (see above). I tried, but instead of looking along the cue to the cue
ball, I ended up facing down to the cloth, it was green base everywhere!
And if I tried to raise my head any further, there was increasing pain in my back. I couldn’t see a dam thing because of my bifocals not giving me the view I needed. If I could have got the mechanics right, I would have still needed a pair of glasses like Dennis Taylor used to wear extra, extra large in my case (see left a picture of him with his owl specs).
I gave up and we went for a walk instead, quite frustrating. A hobby ending before it started, will only just watch and wonder in the future.
I say ‘play’ because I hadn’t had a cue in the hand since my youth and only very rarely on a full
sized table. A little pool here and there in Germany over the years, but not your ‘proper game’. I walked around the table and it took ages! I had just forgotten how large a full size table wasit was such a size.The professionals walk miles in a tournament. I’ve little interest in the world of sports not your fanatical type in any way. If there’s something of interest on I’ll watch, but I won’t go out of my way to build my time around it. I have what one may call a contrast program in my likes in sport. I follow Formula One as a ‘couch watcher’ when at home on the weekends, I wouldn’t go unless it’s Monte Carlo and in the pit area and that will never happen. Actually I did have the opportunity to walk a part of the circuit in October 2006... (see Monte Carlo).
I think I have always been interested in snooker. It was always a popular sport in England, always on the box. In Germany it took up in the 90s when it became popular because of the Eurosport channel. Germany has its own circuit in the meantime. With F1 its team work and high tech. and therefore as an observer one only sees the race and not all the work behind the scenes, one can appreciate it, but not see it in its entirety. It’s different with snooker, apart from being a lot quieter. You see everything, the players, the table and if you have watched enough over the years, you know near enough what the next move(s) will be. The theory - pure physics, the practise - years of training. There’s no hectic - stress yes - but all are reserved234 and polite, white gloves and bowties. From tactics I think it’s the best of the billiard games.
My parents had a small table/ board, when we felt like a game we would lay it on the dining room table, unless there was a jigsaw puzzle under construction (see Jigsaw Puzzles). One adjusted the level by turning foot screws at each corner. The room was not that big and for some of the shots one had to go into trick shot mode and hold the cue almost vertical so as to hit the ball, it’s a wonder there wasn’t, over the years, any holes in the cloth.
When we moved here into the house, it was a time when I was looking at a lot of snooker on the TV. I really thought about getting a full table, a Strachan with all the trimmings, there was enough space in the cellar (weight not being a problem - all that slate) and I could then play any time I felt like it. As with lots of ideas this one faded away. This was a good thing, because 18 years later in the snooker room of Hever castle, I found that I was hopeless in playing.
It was not only the enormous distances and power to send the cue ball on its mission, but mainly due to my back and eye problem, which made it virtually impossible to take a shot. With my curved back I could in no way take the typical stance that one needs to make a shot (see above). I tried, but instead of looking along the cue to the cue
ball, I ended up facing down to the cloth, it was green base everywhere!
And if I tried to raise my head any further, there was increasing pain in my back. I couldn’t see a dam thing because of my bifocals not giving me the view I needed. If I could have got the mechanics right, I would have still needed a pair of glasses like Dennis Taylor used to wear extra, extra large in my case (see left a picture of him with his owl specs).I gave up and we went for a walk instead, quite frustrating. A hobby ending before it started, will only just watch and wonder in the future.
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