Robert Frost famously said that writing in Free Verse was like playing tennis with the net down. But for the past weeks, we’ve been swatting the birdie about with no net in sight. I don’t feel all that bad about it either. Badminton, afterall, is so affected by the slightest breeze that all serious games are played indoors.

Since we lack a certain seriousness, we play to see how long we can keep a volley going, we sent the shuttlecock high into the air, we smash to birdie into each other, at least one of us tries to bounce the birdie off his racket several times before swatting the thing at his opponent. In general, we are having fun even in the wind. And we use no net.