Duel citizens of France

OLD PALS ROLL BACK THE YEARS AS THEY ENJOY BOULES CONTEST

- by MIKE WARD

IAN Moore and I have chosen our weapons. Time for the duel to begin.

But please don't be alarmed. By "duel", I just mean a game of pétanque, beloved of the French.

And by "weapons", I simply mean the boules we'll be playing with. Two for Ian, inset left, two for me, inset right.

I call them "weapons" because (a) they're scarily heavy, and (b) some poor sod gets fatally bashed over the head with one in Ian's latest crime novel - hence its title, Death And Boules.

I don't think either of us will sink that low today. It'll just be the first to 13 points. And may the best man win, of course. Provided it's me.

Not that it's likely to be, because Ian, having lived in France for years - and now officially a French citizen - plays fairly often.

Indeed, he was playing, and winning, only last night, at a book event laid on for him in Ilkley, West Yorks.

"These Yorkshire ladies took it very seriously," he reports. "I was finding it too hot to play, but they wouldn't stop.