Quoits

Summer holidays means long car journeys to country Victoria, where the heat is hotter and the sky is bigger and bluer. Long morning walks along the Murray River’s curvy spine (now dotted with camping families and buzzing with speedboats), food (too much, but so good!), time spent playing with often-unseen little cousins and nieces or nephews and evenings that turn from peach to pink to deep purple to inky blue. But what to do when there’s tension over the last mince pie and everyone’s stir crazy from sitting still? Quoits, that’s what.

Quoits is an old-fashioned game which involves throwing circular rope coils around a pole from a set distance. It’s kind of like bowling-meets-frisbee, but with a goal point in midair. Many migrants played quoits on their boring and arduous boat journeys to their new home, Australia – it was easy, safe and fun to play above deck on the huge passenger liners that brought them here.

Playing quoits on a hot Summer night needs refreshments to be best enjoyed, naturally. How about an aperitivo of pomegranate and apple with a little Aperol? Certo!

Wearing: ASOS Madonna dress, Saltwater sandals and quoits.

Old or young, quoits is good clean (and quickly competitive fun) for everyone. It took me a little while to get my throwing technique right, unlike Mr Ruby Assembly who was quickly throwing four in a row successfully.