Curling party on Brown’s Inlet
By Stella Rastogi
During a snowy, frigid winter and another wave of COVID, what could ease our sad situation? One answer – the Wiltonfest Pondspiel on Brown’s Inlet! This curling party was the brainchild of four ingenious neighbours – Paul and Marilyn Peiper and John Kruspe and Karen McNeil.
Paul felt we neighbours near the pond needed more fun things to do. A member of the Navy Curling Club, he’d had the idea before of curling on the pond but COVID, bad weather and other issues frustrated his plans. This year, he decided to go ahead because it would be fun, allowable under COVID rules and let people to embrace the cold rather than hibernate.
John has been shovelling Brown’s Inlet for years. The rinks there are especially popular for hockey, which is not allowed on the nearby Rideau Canal. John and some neighbours hauled down the snowblower that he and Paul jointly own and cleared a rink for curling.
The curling rocks were made of concrete in margarine tubs. The handles were shelf brackets stuck into the concrete. The rocks were painted red or green, one set for each team. Paul sent out a call last year for used margarine tubs, but it turned out neighbours didn’t use it in such large quantities, so he had to save enough tubs himself!
The name Wiltonlude Pondspiel was conjured up by the wives. Karen offered “Wiltonlude,” the name of a skating party that she and John hosted when the neighbourhood kids were young. “Pondspiel” is Marilyn’s apt contribution. Paul emphasized that curling experience was not necessary and might actually be detrimental!
It was a sunny Sunday on January 30, and most rinks were filled with kids playing hockey when we curlers arrived, bringing cookies, mulled wine and vegan hot chocolate spiked with peppermint vodka left over from Christmas. We had no curling brooms, so we did without. Some simple rules and instructions were explained, and we were ready to go.
The teams were evenly matched, as the only two experienced curlers were split up. A lot of time was spent figuring out whose turn it was and how many rocks we had left. There were breaks for cookies and hot chocolate. At one point, a convoy of trucks on the Queen Elizabeth Driveway interrupted us with some very loud honking. We were tied after five ends; in the exciting, final end, someone slid the last rock onto the button to win the game.
We cleaned up to make sure no litter ended up in the water in the spring, then retreated to John and Karen’s porch for vegetarian stew and ice wine. The event was pronounced a success, and there was talk of doing it again. Once the gang gets more experienced, we may need brooms.
Stella Rastogi is a Glebe resident and enthusiastic curler.
