UK Masters 2009

Allan and I drove to Carlisle on Friday where we stayed in a B&B, picking up Mikki the next morning. We arrived with plenty of time to spare but none of our rooms were ready.

I drew Mikki for game one and after he started with TRAPEZE for 106 I was never in it.

Things flowed much better in game 2 against Phil Appleby. We gave our racks to Stewie but it doesn't appear to have made it online. Maybe will be used for the magazine...

Against Martin Harrison my play of IODYRITE to go 120 up was hit with R(E)FASTeN to be 29 down. There were 2 left in the bag and the Q was unseen, with only one place to directly play it. I decided my only hope was that Martin had picked it so I blocked the spot with FADE(R) to go 3 behind - phew, I didn't get the Q...

A win against Allan and my spread was positive for the first and only time of the whole tourney +1!

I lost the next 2. Adrian hit me with 4 consecutive bonuses, a smaller loss against Jared.

A high scoring game against Lewis. This is annotated on centrestar.

Next Paul Allan. I open with YAP and Paul bonused with CAVATIN(A). Holding AEGNOWS I tried GOWAN(I)ES, knowing GOWANY, but alas it is not allowed. Paul then tried COT(T)AGY but it is only allowed with an E. I balanced and bonused the next go but Paul then went on a scoring spree which I could not match.

So, end of day 1 and 4-4 but mega negative spread.

Another thrashing at the start of day 2 by Wayne - it could have been soooo much worse had I not played out with AZURINE for 131!

I followed it with another no-hoper against Paul Gallen.

And then Phil Robertshaw, who was having a much worse time than I was. Phil opened with COWED and I immediately played (C)OWBANES. Phil plays the 9x IRI(S)AtES but B(A)UhINIA gave me a 1 point lead. I completed the hattrick with LAZULIS. Phil caught me back up on move 9 with RESPITE. A nervy pre and endgame by us both - I had the Q and was ensuring that there were always two places to dump it whilst scoring with my other tiles. This proved enough to hold on for a close win.

Game 12. Neil started and gave me the I I needed for F(I)REHALL, unfortunately ending one short of the triple for a measly 65+5. Neil immediately plonked an S on the bottom with AMBLES for 84 :( My pickup was 6 vowels and a G so I was forced to dump while Neil followed up with steady scoring. I was hanging in there and a 4x of DIG(H)TED got me back within touching distance, and I was rewarded with a good pickup. A bonus each two moves later but TOXI(N)E for 63 gave me the edge.

So, now 6-6 and strangely still in with a chance - no-one was blitzing the field.

The next game against Kevin was a cracker. I really thought the gods were on my side when I extended BE to BEGORRAH. But it was not to be. A loss by 1 point...

Ed Martin in the next game. I kept getting a 100+ lead and Ed kept catching me back up. But luckily he couldn't overhaul me.

Last game, Craig Beevers. He changed tiles. I changed tiles. He changed tiles. I dumped tiles. He bonused. I bonused. He bonused again :( I caught him back up on move 8, but he was scoring well and another bonus by him on move 12. A playout bonus by me merely reduced my losing spread, which was pretty irrelevant in the grander scheme as it was mega negative by now.

So the end of a very strange Masters. The top 3 were all on 9-6, and I was 14th only two games behind. I had two nine timers played against me and I won both those games.

Congratulations to Jared who won his first ever major/'A' division - not a bad one to start with.

Thanks to Phil A for organising and Stewie for TDing.

Back In The Groove

Normality has returned. Well, until I go away again on Friday.

Cardbox is back under control. I am being paranoid at the moment - recent experience has led me to add in all the 7s with 2 Vs or 2 Ws...

Alpine strawberry picking has started. Just over 2 pounds last week that I converted into jam with about 10 minutes to spare before Allan arrived to whisk me off to Carlisle on the first leg of our journey down to Stone and the UK Masters. (More on that in a later post). Just under one and a half pounds this evening before the rain drove me back inside, leaving a couple of patches unharvested.

Weeded the herb bed yesterday and got all my lavender plants planted in pairs dividing it into equal sections, with herbs in between - still got two 'herb' gaps waiting for me to transplant some chives from LB4 and I haven't decided what else yet. I will also plant some mint in a pot and that will go on the end to hide the drain cover. And then I need to stop Jen walking all over it :(

This afternoon I worked through the drizzle weeding LB12 (again) and a bit of LB11. Even Paul noticed how much better it looks. I dug out Reg's daffodils and planted the hosta and iris from the Paxton plant sale and the second daphne from Edrom nursery in the gaps that created.

I really need to spray again as the bindweed is coming up all over the remainder of the LB extension, but rain is forecast in varying amounts for the foreseeable future.

Words of Interest - BLIPVERT

Just come across this beauty, entering the charts at number 18611:

A very short advertisement on TV

I wanna play it...

Back Home

Paul had been very sneaky in telling me that Chris (tiler) would be starting this week.

When actually he started last week.

And finished about half an hour before I got home today.

I decided that I was too tired to drive home from Colin's yesterday, having had only about 4 hours sleep on the planes having been up for the best part of 34 hours.

The slate tiles look great - really pleased that Paul finally agreed. The rusty colours complement the wood beautifully, and the variations of the tiles works well with the simplicity of the rest of the room.

The utility room is also finished. We went for 'some imperfections within the box' quarry tiles - we decided we could live with that for the utility room as they were much cheaper than 'perfect expensive' quarry tiles. They look fine.

The garden has got carried away.

It is impossible to see the rows of potatoes as they have grown so much and are now flowering.

The raised beds need weeding but it does not seem to have restricted the growth of the cabbages and lettuces.

The LB extension needs to be sprayed again - the weeds have had free rein.

Hopefully I will get out there this evening when it has cooled down a little.

King's Cup/Penang Open - The End

So this foray is coming to an end. I fly home in just over 12 hours time.

A little disappointing on the results front, 3rd and 10th, but I had a great time. And not too much damage to my international rating. And I won about 250 quid so could have been a lot worse...

And I think I may even have lost about half a pound in weight. I really want scales that measure in tenths of kilograms :)

It looks as though I may be leaving one permanent heat wave for another temporary one, but hopefully it will not be as humid at home.

Really looking forward to my return trip to the far east in November - how many more words can I learn by then????

Penang Open

I should have more time to blog tomorrow, assuming I make it back to Bangkok...

The warm-up event is over. I would have preferred it to be over at the end of game 16 or 17...

So king-of-the-hill all the way today, meaning I played Suanne in the first game of the day. A nerve-wracking battle of wits that I won by 2 points. My win was rewarded with a good helping of jam against Nigel. So Suanne again, another really close one but I couldn't quite overhaul her large early lead losing by 5. And then Suanne again but I was completely powerless this time and got splatted. Strangely enough it was the only one I got to start againsty her...

So that meant I was almost guaranteed 3rd place (assuming Vannitha could not beat me by over 500 in the last game) and would be 2nd if Suanne could beat Nigel in the final game. Unfortunately for us both she could not.

I had a great time meeting up with old friends, a lot of whom will also be making their way to Bangkok in the next couple of days. And third place almost covers the cost of this side trip :)

It was not a successful tourney for the Thais. Pakorn never arrived – we hope he has not been quarantined on his way in else he will miss the start of the King's Cup, and there was a pairings mistake for Gerry in the last game which I only heard about at the end when I realised he was nowhere to be found. I hope he comes to the hotel or phones tomorrow to sort out getting to the airport...

King's Cup/Penang Open - The Journey

Maureen phoned from their way back from Derby saying they would be home by 6.30 pm and did I want to go out for a Chinese when I got there. Hmm... yes please.

I set out at around 5.30 pm. A quick stop for petrol at Dunbar and a dive into Asda to buy a jar of Branston pickle for Gerry, and back on the road.

A brief hold up on the Edinburgh ringroad - 20 minutes of stop/start/slow crawl for no discernable reason and then a clear run on the M8. Got through Glasgow with no holdups and across the Erskine bridge without the roadworks that had been promised throughout most of the journey.

And then all stop...

Just over 5 miles to go but noone was going anywhere.

I phoned Paul to get him to let C&M know the situation. Apparently heavy rain had caused flash flooding. I phoned again after another half an hour - C&M knew all about it having also been held up in it on their way back from Derby...

So two and a quarter hours later I did the last 5 miles, arriving at around 10 p.m. Luckily this wasn't sleepy Berwickshire where if you're not in and seated at a restaurant by about 7.30 pm you ain't gonna eat.

A lazy morning and then C&M took me to the airport at midday.

Flight delayed by just over half an hour but that just meant less time to kill in Dubai. First leg went quickly - watched Quantum of Solace and Slumdog Millionaire.

On asking where the smoking room was the very nice airport man suggested that I go to the bar where I could also smoke - "much more pleasant". There were no free tables but after a couple of minutes one became free. There was a chap behind me also waiting so I indicated that I was happy for him to take the other seat. I ordered a beer and got my laptop out to kill some time. When I went to get the bill my tablemate said he would pick up the tab - he was there for the long term, seven hours to kill...

My plan to sleep on the second leg was thwarted from the outset. The blessings of in-seat entertainment became less of one when you can't switch it off from 'passenger announcements'. OK, for the safety stuff well and good, but the non-essential advertisements...and everything in duplicate - Arabic and English. Half an hour later and I was just beginning to snooze when all the lights went on - breakfast! I gave up and watched the Watchmen...

A couple of holdups getting out the airport. Every passenger had to fill in a health questionnaire -a reaction to swine flu, with threatened quarantine if they thought you looked dodgy or had a high temperature. And then I picked the immigration queue where the camera decided to stop working properly about 3 people before my turn...Eventually I got through. The 'Land of Smiles' was actually one of face masks and frowns...

Gerry had said to turn right as I came out but I was beginning to wonder if he meant outside out as there was no sign of him in amongst the people waiting nor at the second throng. I kept walking and then spotted him at the next meeting point. I was safely deposited at the apartment and then Gerry had to go back to work.

Just chilling out today - can you actually do that in this heat???? Off to Penang tomorrow afternoon...