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Having been recently reminded that I promised to tell you guys about my bridgey weekend, I shall now do so.
Bridge was bridge-like.
;)
Arrived in Canberra, got picked up at airport had a nice chat in the car on the way to my host's place. Played some strange, originally german board game to do with power plants and cities until late. Got to tease TableTeddyBear lots about his habit of over-analysing game situations for the most profit such that it takes him 15 minutes to decide between two similar but not quite equally useful strategies, with about 1% difference between the eventual probable results. ;)
Went to bed and realised that my host's cat had a very specific path of wandering around in the middle of the night. This involved going past the foot of my bed, behind the curtains, clockwise, on her way out the newly installed catflap which she wasn't sure about, and then over the top of my head, clockwise, on her way in from outside. She also, some time during the night, decided that there was an Evil Leaf Wot Had To Be Chastised And Then Eaten Before It Took Over The World.
Eventually, the cat knocked down the prop holding the catflap open and locked herself outside, having not, at that point, figured out how to get through it when closed. She did start pawing pathetically (and loudly) at the flap.
Bridge the next day started with being picked up to go shopping for sports equipment :) and talking systems, then lunch. Lots of me going "OK, we'll play that, as long as you tell me which of the 4-6 versions of that that I know we're playing". Nice to be able to horrify a good player with exactly how many versions of Michaels Cue Bids (and other conventions) are current in SA. ;P Occasionally nice, too, to be told by a person who, when you first met them, was quite proud of the fact that they were playing the most conventions out of everyone at the event (at an Under-25s, they were the only pair playing Moscito and not Acol or Standard, and that in itself would have given them that title, even had they not overloaded with conventions), being told by this person that you know more versions of these conventions than they do. It's not that I go looking for them, mind, it's just that I'll play whatever partner wants to play, within reason and boundaries dictated by how much I can remember.
OK, so after lunch, we wander off to the venue, sit down, play bridge. Apallingly. Well, apallingly compared to my usual standards. I couldn't seem to play a card right, and because it was the first time we'd played together, the little nuances of play, such as 'partner has chosen to lead this - why would he do that in preference to this other thing which from my side of the table looks equally good?' weren't in the partnership programming yet. What's more, I believed him when he said that he never leads doubletons, and if I hadn't we would have taken that contract off.
Dinner at the host's place, yummy spinach lasagne, then back into the fray.
The second match was much better, but not enough to get us into the finals.
So, home, and more cat antics.
On the next day, play started at the unholy hour of 10:30 am ;) When we sat down, some of the younger people were still eating breakfast. At the table :( Better than beer, I suppose.
Bridge that day was mostly a matter of holding out a bin for our opponents to chuck points into, and not dropping it. This was so easy that even I could manage it. The top 8 people in the Consolation field all ended up in the top 5 pairs, by a decently large margin. We won said Consolation by an ENORMOUS margin. We could have forfeited the last set and still won by a large margin. But we don't get any prizes so ;(
Barbecue that evening, traditional Under-25 thing. Mr Fussbudget apparently had something to do with the arrangements, because when we got there, most of the bread had been buttered, including all the wholemeal. Being unable to stand the taste, I have had words with him about this before. None of those words have got through. The buttered bread is always the last to go. Hey![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
placeboid, can you guess who I mean by Mr Fussbudget? He's related to Mrs Chatterbox who lives in Adelaide. ;)
Anyway, much backyard cricket, and soccer, and lying on the grass chatting with people I shall now not see until July, if then.
More updates in next post.
Bridge was bridge-like.
;)
Arrived in Canberra, got picked up at airport had a nice chat in the car on the way to my host's place. Played some strange, originally german board game to do with power plants and cities until late. Got to tease TableTeddyBear lots about his habit of over-analysing game situations for the most profit such that it takes him 15 minutes to decide between two similar but not quite equally useful strategies, with about 1% difference between the eventual probable results. ;)
Went to bed and realised that my host's cat had a very specific path of wandering around in the middle of the night. This involved going past the foot of my bed, behind the curtains, clockwise, on her way out the newly installed catflap which she wasn't sure about, and then over the top of my head, clockwise, on her way in from outside. She also, some time during the night, decided that there was an Evil Leaf Wot Had To Be Chastised And Then Eaten Before It Took Over The World.
Eventually, the cat knocked down the prop holding the catflap open and locked herself outside, having not, at that point, figured out how to get through it when closed. She did start pawing pathetically (and loudly) at the flap.
Bridge the next day started with being picked up to go shopping for sports equipment :) and talking systems, then lunch. Lots of me going "OK, we'll play that, as long as you tell me which of the 4-6 versions of that that I know we're playing". Nice to be able to horrify a good player with exactly how many versions of Michaels Cue Bids (and other conventions) are current in SA. ;P Occasionally nice, too, to be told by a person who, when you first met them, was quite proud of the fact that they were playing the most conventions out of everyone at the event (at an Under-25s, they were the only pair playing Moscito and not Acol or Standard, and that in itself would have given them that title, even had they not overloaded with conventions), being told by this person that you know more versions of these conventions than they do. It's not that I go looking for them, mind, it's just that I'll play whatever partner wants to play, within reason and boundaries dictated by how much I can remember.
OK, so after lunch, we wander off to the venue, sit down, play bridge. Apallingly. Well, apallingly compared to my usual standards. I couldn't seem to play a card right, and because it was the first time we'd played together, the little nuances of play, such as 'partner has chosen to lead this - why would he do that in preference to this other thing which from my side of the table looks equally good?' weren't in the partnership programming yet. What's more, I believed him when he said that he never leads doubletons, and if I hadn't we would have taken that contract off.
Dinner at the host's place, yummy spinach lasagne, then back into the fray.
The second match was much better, but not enough to get us into the finals.
So, home, and more cat antics.
On the next day, play started at the unholy hour of 10:30 am ;) When we sat down, some of the younger people were still eating breakfast. At the table :( Better than beer, I suppose.
Bridge that day was mostly a matter of holding out a bin for our opponents to chuck points into, and not dropping it. This was so easy that even I could manage it. The top 8 people in the Consolation field all ended up in the top 5 pairs, by a decently large margin. We won said Consolation by an ENORMOUS margin. We could have forfeited the last set and still won by a large margin. But we don't get any prizes so ;(
Barbecue that evening, traditional Under-25 thing. Mr Fussbudget apparently had something to do with the arrangements, because when we got there, most of the bread had been buttered, including all the wholemeal. Being unable to stand the taste, I have had words with him about this before. None of those words have got through. The buttered bread is always the last to go. Hey
placeboid, can you guess who I mean by Mr Fussbudget? He's related to Mrs Chatterbox who lives in Adelaide. ;)Anyway, much backyard cricket, and soccer, and lying on the grass chatting with people I shall now not see until July, if then.
More updates in next post.
