Petanque is the native provencal ball game - it a bit like football in the UK. I read in the Times that the name pétanque comes from the Provençal words ped tanco, or pieds tanqués in French, meaning having your feet stuck to the ground. Because there is no run-up, the pitch is shorter than in other boules games. These days pétanque is played by about 17 million people in France and in more than 50 other countries.
I sound better than the author of the piece, but then I played squash as a teenager and developed the flexibility of wrist much cherished by boulistes.
The article has a brief summary of the rules. First to thirteen, not the fifteen I've been playing.
