My Christmas took an unexpected turn today because my sister’s younger son took ill this morning, forcing a postponement of Christmas dinner at her sister-in-law’s new house. With nothing better to do, and Westgate Lanes advertising being open 365 days a year, my brother and I used the opportunity to see if the advertisement was true.
It was, albeit the place had a skeleton crew: Junior working the desk, and someone in the back; the snack bar wasn’t even open. I had gift certificates from a half-off radio station promotion during the summer, so I used one of those to pay for our bowling, and took the difference out of my pocket. You might think we had the place to ourselves, but there were a couple of other groups that were there during at least part of our visit. With plenty of spare lanes, however, I used the opportunity to introduce my brother to bowling on a pair of lanes instead of a single lane. Although I didn’t tell him until the first game was almost over, I also gave my brother 80 pins handicap each game: he’s usually around 100-105 when we bowl, so, taking my 186 league average into account, 80 pins represents roughly 100% handicap.
To sum up the results, I had all three games over my league average, but the handicap was enough to give my brother the first game. There were a couple of highlights for me…I picked up a 2-10 split in the first game, and started the second game with the front five. To end it, when I came up in the tenth frame of the third game, I needed a mark to ensure a tie, and got it with a strike, meaning I just had to keep it on the lane to win…I left a 10 on the second ball of the frame, and picked it up for a 188. Bowling on Christmas is not something I’d do every year, but it was nice to know the option was available when our plans for the day had to change.
The Tenth Board 