The Yearly Pétanque Tournament

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A summer in our Auvergnat village wouldn't be the same without the yearly pétanque tournament. Some of you might remember that my husband, together with Mr. J and Mr. M,  two of our neighbors, unexpectedly beat all the other teams at last year's event to walk away with the winning trophy. So you can imagine that there was much riding on the 2012 competition.  Mr. J and my husband had even practiced ahead of time.
The event was supposedly going to start at around 2 PM, but, as usual, most of the players only started gathering at about three.  By the time they had stopped at the 'buvette' and had gotten a beer, said hello to the others, it was a quarter to four.
The sky may have been blue as the players began throwing their boules, but as the teams battled it out, dark clouds appeared on the horizon and thunder could be heard in the distance.
"Perhaps the storm will pass" some said optimistically. "The météo has predicted hail" said some others.  Just minutes later,  sheets of rain and lightning scattered everyone.  Sadly, no winning team could be named and no one took home the trophy. Apparently, the mayor of the village is holding on to it till next year.
"Since there is no clear winner, I suppose we are still the village champions," my husband joked with his team mates.  They readily agreed.