Parkour?

This term was new to me until I read an article on a variation of it called Beerkour. Parkour apparently is a discipline in which participants, traceurs, interact very sportily with their landscape. That is they jump over fences, balance on walls and crawl under things. Obviously for the young of muscle and joint, if not the young at heart.

I have a garden path made of stone. Walking on it is a bit of a balancing act. Does that count? ... probably not. Well, my fence is crumbling, so I am not going to walk on it. There are a lot of stairs both inside and outside of the house, that I use a lot. OK, I don't run up them or cartwheel down them, but I did summersault down them once, does that count?

I still climb ladders to pick cherries and prune roses, but I avoid crawling on the lawn to take pictures of the cats :)

Catour

Now I can't imagine doing any of this on a beer or three. Apparently with Beerkour, you interact with the furniture in the bar - i.e. balancing on the backs of chairs, crawling under the table or attempting handstands on the table. Actually, this is getting quite interesting. I can see placing bets on who can clear the bar stool in one jump or the low table with a summersault, who can walk to the washroom on their hands or who can balance a tray full on their head - lampshades are so old hat, so to speak!!

Really, I'm exhausted just writing about it. Why can't we go back to playing parlour games? They're much more subtle. You know rubbing knees, with another, under the table. OK it's not Tiddlywinks, but it's still sporting. It's interacting with the guests, rather than the landscape and to my mind that's much more fun!!

The picture - cat interacting with its environment - a.k.a. Catour :)

Have a sporting day!!