Bowling in England
A few days ago, I took my family to one of the many Bowloplex bowling alleys that are popping up all around England. England has quite a few bowling alleys now (it seems most are owned by Bowloplex) and it has become a “something to do” option next to the cinema and pub.
Going bowling in England is not like going bowling in the States. In the States, bowling is taken seriously—there are rules that you must adhere to.
My parents were in leagues when I was very small. I was in a Saturday morning bowling league when I was ten years old. There was even a fad where teenagers started to bowl—my brother had his own monogrammed ball and wrist strap when he was 15. Back when there were only four channels on TV, it was not uncommon for one of them to be showing a professional bowling match. Bowling is not exactly an American past time, but it is a part of life.
In England, bowling is a novelty. It’s on a par with laser tag as a sport. It’s Saturday night—no good movies showing—let’s go bowling. No one ever says “but I’m not very good at bowling” because no one is really a bowler here. Any one who has played with skittles as a kid knows the rules of bowling—and the automatic scoring computers make it easy to start without any knowledge of the rules.
In the States, you must never start down the lane with the ball if the person on the lane next to you is on his way down. You have to stop and wait until the guy next to you (on either side) is finished throwing. You learn this early when the person on the next lane starts huffing an p