A bomb? What boules

There is nothing to laugh at in having your air baggage mistaken for a bomb. Why, then, did Keith Boleat find that when he arrived at the European Veteran Pétanque Championship minus his impounded steel boules, “they all found it funny”? It must be the utter disparity between terrorism and the gentle game of pétanque. Of course, competitive pétanque is laser-focused and ruthless, but the game itself is not meant to be hostile. In fact, it is an excuse for pottering about in the company of friends, with some opportunity for refreshment. Poor Mr Boleat was quite put off his stroke, having had to borrow unfamiliar boules and even a pair of pétanque trousers. To keep calm and carry on in the face of terrorism may be sound policy. A harder thing for law-abiding folk is to be able to find amusing the mishaps its risk brings us.