Back to Bridge

My back seems to be much better. I took a taxi to the Bridge Club and played with my usual partner. I was very pleased that I saw that we had a Slam contract and we ended up in 6 Hearts. We made it (great thrill) but saw afterwards that another pair bid and made 7 No Trumps and scored far more points than we did. Never mind, at least I took it to slam rather than leaving it in game.

A technical bit: I had 19 points and opened 1 Heart. Partner responded 3 Hearts so I then bid 4 No Trump which is asking her for how many aces she held. She looked somewhat aghast at that but responded suitably.

Sometimes the girl done good.

My partner doesn't want to play tomorrow evening and I am quite pleased as I think the first exercise class will be enough for the day.

I took a taxi there but my partner brought me home and I joined the Scrabble group foor a cup of tea and a bit of chocolate orange.

Bridge - and a gentle hint.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the bridge club where, once again I played with my usual partner. At the end of the afternoon she was complaining that she hated always coming last. I said to her that obviously I was not the right partner for her and did she think she would be better off with someone else?

As we left, our leader said that she should not complain about coming last as we were just beginners and there were many strong players who had been playing with the same partner for years.

Oh well this was not a problem solved but at least a seed sown.

Last night I had very little sleep, tossing and turning from 2am trying to find a cold place for my poor burning feet. The pain relief I have been given is obviously not keeping things under control, so I am pleased that I am due to see my GP on Friday (for another reason) so I shall hijack the appointment to ask about this.

Anyway I knew I would be absolutely useless at bridge after so little sleep so I called my partner to let her know that I was not fit to play tonight. I called before 10am to give her time to find another partner.

Today is now a lazy day and I shall have an early night.

Bridge and Dentist

I managed to make it to the bridge club. I asked my partner to sit at the first table as, if there were an odd number of pairs,we could get away early. I was so tired that I was desperate to get away as soon as possible..

However, she did not want to play with the North South pair at that table.

I managed to keep going and did not disgrace myself , although I did not play well.

When we eventually reached the free table, I atood at the top of the stairs to get some fresh air, and then came in and helped someone else with washing coffee cups.

After I rejoined my partner, I was just about ready to fall asleep, and once again she laid into me "Why did you not do such and such"

By this time I could remember nothing of past hands and said so, but she kept repeating her question in a more and more aggressive manner.

The more she questioned the less I could remember.

I should perhaps say that I got to bed at midnight and slept till 10am (1o hours sleep) uninterrupted.

Today was the dentist to finish the job started by the hygienist last time. she cleaned my lower teeth with the pick, then injected a gel into the space between my lower teeth and gums.

I thought that the last time it was a cortisol injection, but in fact it was chlorhexadine (like Corsydol, but more concentrated and in a gel format)

I have now got an appointment to go back in January to see how things have progressed.

Catching up.

I am conscious that I haven’t posted for a day or two.

So, a quick catch up.

On Sunday after Church I did one washing (the dark wash), got it dried and put away by about 1.50pm. So I treated myself to a glass of sherry (as you do).

I also finished reading “Bad Science” by Ben Goldacre. This is an excellent book which debunks so much of the so called cures offered to the gullible. There are so many charlatans around peddling such things as colonic irrigation, not to forget these “nutritionists”.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that this book should be widely circulated. In particular, it should be mandatory reading for journalists and politicians.

Yesterday afternoon I played bridge with my usual partner. She received some gentle advice from our leader.

That was sufficient for her to start crying. Later our leader said quietly to me that she thought I was a saint to put up with her behaviour.

I really don’t know how long I can carry on coping. It takes its toll on me and I end up losing concentration and playing badly. If I make a mistake, she rounds on me in a very aggressive manner.

I really don’t feel like going tonight, particularly as I have been awake since 4am with the pain in my feet, up the front of my legs and my hands. However, shoulder on.

Brighter news is that the vegetable box arrived and contained: 2 cooking apples, some salad leaves (which are either green mustard leaf or mizuna -I can’t tell which I have, they look rather like spinach and I am sure they will make a good soup), a Savoy, carrots, onions, 3 leeks and 2 beautiful cooking apples. The fruit bag held 3 apples, 2 oranges, 2 pears and a kiwi fruit.

TBSITW tells me that the local farm shop has now opened; they were delayed as it took so long to get the potatoes in as the ground was so wet.

Bridge once more

This afternoon we were at the club again and at the second table, S. our leader laid in to my partner for fingering the bid cards before deciding to pass. She was told (correctly) that she should keep her hands in her lap until she decided her bid, as even touching the bidding cards before deciding on a 'no bid' could give away quite a lot of information. This was the second time this afternoon that S. had a go at my partner, and so I gave her (S.) it with both barrels when she did something the same. I laughed and laughed and I could see my partner relaxing.

After bridge, I came back "to the ranch" and had a cup of tea with a treat.

btw, last week we came second bottom.....

I have away from my partner a super book of which I am going to photocopy several pages as it is very good on signals and discards.

Bridge Club

Yesterday I went to the Bridge Club with my partner (G.) She came and collected me to take me there and on the way I had a bit of a chat with her, suggesting that she laugh rather than get upset when S. got at her. I think she took this on board to some extent.

At least we got through the first three boards fine, and when we moved to the next table S. started to say something and I said that she should get at me rather than G. as I had made something of a horlicks with my bidding of one hand at the previous table.

Another thing that helped G. was that it became increasingly apparent that she was giving her partner a very difficult time of it. I kept catching her partner's eye and gave her sympathetic smiles - I could see that she was getting rather fed up. At least that helped G to realise that it was nothing personal.

We had good points through the evening and I ended up playing most of the time (at least it seemed like that. I made a couple of boo boos but otherwise it went well. I now realise that my play is better than my bidding, so I need to put more work in there.

More Falls Response - and Bridge

I came back from bridge to a very welcome cup of tea.

I found this afternoon quite difficult; my partner is very easily upset, and, although she started off fine, she soon became obviously upset. I joked away and said to
S that she obviously had her scatter gun as she was hitting everyone.

As my partner becomes upset I try to keep her going and to lighten her mood. The result is that I find I am not playing as well as I should. The real crunch comes when she complains about my bidding or play. I might have managed better if I were not supporting her.

Aaaargh!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

I mentioned earlier that the lady who looks after the Monday afternoon group and takes a pride in being a good teacher got my partner totally stressed on Monday afternoon. She is a rather nervous person and we are trying to come together as a partnership so that we understand where we are coming from, so too much criticism of her play is not only unhelpful but actually counter-productive.

What happened yesterday? Well all the people who go to a Tuesday evening are totally relaxed and there to enjoy themselves (and win when possible of course), but yesterday evening was that we sat down at one of the tables and my partner's nemesis sat down with us. I could see that even that fact was stressing my partner and this was not helped by the fact that this lady laid in to her partner before the start, getting him to agree to play her way not his (and he is a good player). The last straw came when the lady tore in to my partner for making a bidding error when in fact she had not.

At the next two tables I could see that she was upset and crying a bit. When she was dummy at the third table she excused herself and went downstairs and metaphorically blew her nose and washed her face. She looked better when she returned and we played well after that.

But really what that lady did is quite appalling.

Now my partner will not come back on a Monday afternoon because of the stress.

The good news is that not only did we not come in bottom last week but fourth out of six. Not bad for newbies.

Bridge, again

It was really nasty and cold this morning, so I wore my fleece to go to bridge. By the time I came home the sun was shining and the temperature was 19 degrees.

There were fourteen pairs there, so one "pair" were ghosts. As usually seems to happen, my partner and I were playing the ghost pair at the first table. So we looked at all the hands that we would have played and bid them.

There was a bit of disagreement about a couple of the bids I made (to put it mildly). However we struggled on and the rest of the hands were fine.

Funnily enough, I think the best hands we were dealt were at the first table.

Oh well....

We finished rather late, but D made me a cup of tea when I got home. She was asking me if I did the Saturday crossword in the Scotsman newspaper and I said I didn't see it now as they changed the on-line version, so I gave it up altogether.

Now she has given me the name of the newspaper shop who deliver, so I am going back to it. It is mostly the crossword I missed, because I feel the paper has gone downhill recently but there is still one regular columnist that I like.

Bridge (mostly)

Yesterday was another fairly miserable, although at least mild, day.

In the afternoon I went to the Bridge Club, where once again I was paired with my partner. I shall be interested to see how we got on when we return next week.

I think she is a better bridge player than I am. I want to get better, and really put my mind into doing so, but I am quite relaxed about the whole thing and can even laugh about unfortunate turns of the cards; while I do chastise myself for getting something wrong, I don't get upset about it, merely trying to remember so that I don't make the same mistake twice.

My partner, on the other hand, is really quite uptight, taking a long time to decide what she is going to bid and what card she is going to play each time. On one occasion we reached a game contract and she played it and made it. When she checked what the previous pair had done with the same hand, she found that they had reached the same contract but had made one trick extra and was almost in tears because she must have done something wrong. She could not see that it might just as well be that our opponents put on a better defence, thus preventing her from making that extra trick.

It is such a shame, because bridge (particularly at our level) should be a pleasure.

After the game, I returned to find the car park completely full. I went to the end and turned and was thinking of parking illegally when someone came out and removed her car. Phew!

I arrived just as the tea was being made and went to get my chocolate biscuit selection as my contribution to the war effort.

After that I went home and had a sirloin steak for my supper, served with boiled new potato and white turnip and steamed cabbage.

A Quiet Weekend .......

....... That is the title of a play where the weekend was (surprise) not quiet at all, although I have no longer any memory of it.

Today my bridge partner came over and we went over some hands. I have had some smoked trout pate for lunch (scrummy).

I got a text message yesterday evening inviting me over tomorrow to watch oldest grandson in Romeo and Juliet and to stay the night.

I then come home on Friday and pack my bag to go to visit TBSITW to go to hear a choir and sleepover.

I come home on Saturday and scarcely have time to draw breath but it is Church on Sunday, bridge club on Monday, then off to Elder son to visit and to help out with his boy and girl while his wife is away with some children from her school.

Can I cope with all this excitement?????

If it's Monday it has to be Bridge

TBSITW callled round this morning for tea and biccies and to catch up with what has been going on in both our lives.

After she left, it was on to the Bridge Club.We have not beeen doing so well on the scoring front (last week we were bottom, an all too familiar place.) Part of the issue has been that, by chance we have been getting rather a lot of poor hands, and part is that we need to play together more often.

By good chance one of the good players is starting classes on Friday 4th July.

Great!

Although I was late finishing, the Scrabble players were still there and I enjoyed a cup of tea and a biscuit with them.

Had intended making smoked trout pate after the bridge club, but I think I shall leave it for tomorrow.

This evening's meal is lovely pork sausages with potatoes, white turnip and flat beans (all organic). I still have a little of the cooked organic rhubarb left, so that is pudding.

Bridge

I had a terrible feeling that my new partner didn't care for me and was somewhat ashamed that I had played badly on Monday, so it was a pleasant surprise to have her visit today saying how ashamed she was about how she had played!

After a cup of tea and coffee respectively and getting all that out of the way we started to go through the exercises in a bridge book I have. It was good to see that we were almost always in agreement, and almost always got the correct answer. We talked through one or two things that we were rather unsure of and look forward to next Monday's game.

Bridge ... and After

Yesterday was the first time I had played with my new partner. How was it, I hear you ask?

Well, the jury's out.

I think we have a long way to go to be successful partners, and first thoughts are that she is quick to find fault, but slow to accept it.

Still, maybe a lot of us are like that and just don't recognise it.

We played on till half past four and so the Scrabble group had all had their cup of tea and gone.

I came home and made a cup of tea; I don't like to have one while we are playing because of my shaky hands (particularly as they have just bought new green baize covers for the tables.) I put the mug on the table and went to slide into my chair when I lost my balance and fell to the side, almost toppling the table over; managed to right the table, but too late to save the mug of tea, although the mug was unbroken.

What makes me very sad is that the tea went all over my jigsaw board, and what is worse rendered unusable the beautiful jigsaw I was in the middle of doing. It was very hard but I had made huge breakthroughs recently. Of course the board is now also unusable as the felt is all out of shape and no longer of any use.

Of course, the first thing I did was go and order another one.

Oh yes, I am boring and predictable.

This morning I seem to be sore all down my left side........

My Sun Dance...

...although I am certainly not a kid (nor male)!

It is continuing to work, although today has been a bit grey, but still warm.

This morning my new bridge partner came to go over some strategy. It is funny that the more you read the more complicated the whole thing sounds! I think the best thing to do is to play on Monday, then have a post mortem later.

This afternoon I went to the lounge to meet some of the ladies for a cup of tea - especially because I wanted to catch the milkman. He is very good with all us old ladies (and some very much older than me). I recently asked if he could deliver organic milk, and he has been doing so for quite some time, however I found that 4 pints a week was far too much, so I asked if I could have just one 2-pint delivery, so we settled on a Tuesday.

I was polite and let a lady who has a lot of difficulty walking go in front of me.

And she repaid me by buying the last of the lemon sole!

Bridge Again

I mentioned on Monday that I hoped to have found a partner.

Well, this morning she telephoned and came round for coffee. We had a bit of a chat about our backgrounds and then talked bridge talk. We have decided to play together every Monday (apart from this coming Monday when she can't make it) and that we shall meet on a Wednesday morning for bridge talk. I mentioned that I had been given a tutorial book when I started, but didn't find it helpful on my own, so we are going to have a look at it next week.

Oh, I am so excited!

It has been so long since I had a regular partner, and from our chat I think we can get on all right with playing. The idea is that we will just play on a Monday at the club (and of course the Wednesday learning bit) with a view to playing regularly on a Tuesday evening too. This latter is described as "social bridge" but is quite cutthroat!

Bridge, Bridge, Bridge!

Today, as usual, I went to the bridge club, where there were not very many players, so we played singles (don't ask - I still don't really understand.) However, this week I got talking to another lady who has recently moved to the area, has played bridge before, but is feeling a little unsure of herself.

So, we have decided to play together on a Monday afternoon to get a better handle on how we each play, with a view to playing together on Tuesday evenings.

This is such wonderful news, and I do hope we get on.

Another beautiful day, but just as I was about to leave for the bridge club, someone came in and mentioned that it was very cold in the wind, so I returned for my fleece. Needn't have bothered, but once a girl guide, always a girl guide.