S. Worthen | Weblog

Last night, haggisthesecond and I returned for a second round of badminton at the Tower Hamlets leisure centre in Poplar, this time accompanied by cwjat and tjej. The two of us went last week for a warm-up session, the first time in two years for me, and far, far longer for her. But then again, haggisthesecond was a champion badminton player in her youth, so her instincts still run strong. Last week, I came home exhausted, legs sore from lunging, but eager to go back. So we went back.

As rumor has it, last night was the first time tjej has ever voluntarily played any kind of sport, and she took to it naturally. No - almost preternaturally, because, you see, she plays ambidextrously. cwjat was just as out of practice as the rest of us, but warmed up rapidly. I think we still have a few more weeks of practice before we're ready to properly play a game though. No scoring for us yet.

The two of us who grew up in Canada played badminton in school. The two of us who grew up elsewhere didn't play badminton in school. Is it coincidence, or do Canadians play more badminton than natives of other countries?

Public transit highlight of the evening: DLR stops are very close together around Canary Wharf. cwjat and I just barely missed the connection we needed at West India Quay, so I got out my phone to let haggisthesecond know; but she'd already called me to say she'd just missed her train at Canary Wharf. I waved to her from one DLR station, and she could see me from the next one.