Long Time No Post

So it has been over two years since my last confession post. A lot and very little has changed...

I had a mild heart attack at the start of March 2017. I thought it was indigestion. After being up all night I phoned the doctor in the morning. My doctor was on holiday. I decided to go to the pharmacy and got something for indigestion. That didn't work so I phoned the doctor's surgery again, said I didn't care which doctor I saw, mentioned chest pains, was told to go straight down there. As I was wired up for the ECG nurse departed to get doctor, doctor told me not to worry, an ambulance was on the way...  Long story short, I now have a stent and the tiniest scar on my wrist is all you can see. Oh - and if you want to give up smoking this is a very successful motivator!

I got the all clear at my last check up so other than keep taking the drugs all is well. I was, however, concerned about any side effects they may have been having. A couple of tweaks to lower the dosages have made a huge difference to my concentration and 'twitchiness'.

So I started word studying again last summer to test my concentration and memory. I plucked up courage to enter my first scrabble tourney in November last year - I hadn't played since the new word list came in and we are due to update again this year! I won all seven games which was a bit of a surprise to me :) I played again in February and didn't do quite so well but not a disaster either. I have now entered a couple of the Malta tourneys at the end of April...

We have a new family member. It was just over 2 years since Poncho had died, I had got myself a little fitter by walking a few miles most days after my heart attack, so we felt it was time to get another greyhound. We wanted a young girlie but Gillie (hard G), a five and a half year old boy, chose us on New Year's eve 2017.

He is a real sweetheart and settled in immediately.

Other things of note:

I broke my wrist just over a year ago. I whacked my elbow (same arm) a few months later, I may never be able to scratch my back again. And I am now on more drugs for mild osteoporosis but hopeful they have found it in time to reverse it. I can live with the chalk supplements but am struggling with the once a week with a glass of water on an empty stomach no other food or drink (read coffee) for 30 minutes and no lying down one...

I am still knitting and designing (more of that in future posts maybe) although at a much steadier no stress pace.

Gardening has been limited. I hope to get back to it this year.

Back to Words

Decision was made at the New Year to get back to word studying and see how it goes.

So I started with the 4s. And sort of fell out of study mode pretty quickly as I had the idea for my Studded Diamonds Hat and Cowl.

And then I had an idea for my Love Hearts socks...

These are all in test mode now so I got back to zyzzyva.

Completed going through the 4s - wow, am I rusty.
The last week I have started on the 7s and 8s in playability order, 500 of each a day which actually works out as nearer 650 of each as unlike probability order there is a lot of repetition with the multiple anagram questions. 7s not too bad but 8s are taking a lot longer.

Played my first games since the Commonwealth tourney yesterday against Allan. Honours even at 2-2. Off to Edinburgh tomorrow for my first test - 7 games tourney - in preparation for the Scottish Masters the weekend after. Gonna be tough...

Chester Tourney 2012

Almost a month on from my last post.

Was off playing my first scrabble tourney of 2012 last weekend at Chester. I went with no great expectations having had about 2 months off from studying. The journey down there was a little stressful when my third train leg from Manchester to Chester terminated at Stockport because there was a freight train stuck further down the line. An hour's wait for the next train (I was not allowed to re-route because I had to go via Altrincham according to my ticket). This meant that as we proceeded to stop at every station the train was invaded by school kids...

Anyway I finally arrived around 5.15 p.m., still with enough time to chill out before a very good 3-course dinner and then two games of scrabble. A flowing game 1 against Phil Robertshaw with (T)ITRATOr to counter his early bonus, ASS(I)GNED as a 4x and a late GUESSER gave me a rare large win. I followed this up with a 4 bingo game against Steve Perry, including t(O)RQUING for 124.

Day 2 also went well, starting off with a 2 point win against Wayne Kelly with a nice bonus spot of S(U)BOCEAn, and also (B)URSTONE and SPANKER. My winning ways continued, although I was in severe trouble against Janet Phillips. Trailing slightly on a blocked board and holding rubbish I dumped TUTU/UR, keeping back ELS and was rewarded with BEIG which played parallel to TUTU for 83!

So, 11 out of 11 at the end of the day - but so was Lewis who had accumulated a mega spread.

Day 3 continued well with a couple more wins and then I had to play Jackie, who had just blown her game against Lewis. The writing was on the wall. I started with a bonus on move 2, and turning over my tiles had snagged a blank - and ENUUUV. So I changed UUUV and started a vowelfest. Meanwhile Jackie was bonusing away with gay abandon and when not, playing off the power tiles for hefty scores. I held that blank until the very last move when I got a consolation bonus of FETIDEST. I won the next two games and now for the showdown. I was a win ahead of Lewis but still needed to win as his spread was bigger than mine, And it was a horrible game.He got ahead early on and the board was fairly blocked. My deficit widened to 3 figures, and I was still way behind when I eventually bonused with (R)ePARTEE. Lewis played across it to stop an 8 down on to it, and I played SAZ for 41 for a faint glimmer of hope. It was not to be, and I lost by 21.

Still, second place with 15/17 and a tourney rating of 203 was not bad. I could get used to not studying if I could keep that up!

Nothing New

I have been prompted for an update on life at Todheugh.

Since my last dim and distant posting what has happened.

I played my BEST quarterfinal against Wale. It went down to the wire, with me ahead 7.5-6.5. I could afford to lose the last game but not by a lot. As it was I won it and proceeded through to the semifinal against Mikki. We have arranged for that to be played this coming Tuesday/Wednesday - now up to best of 17.

It was the NSC semifinals at the start of September, 14 games over a weekend. Allan and I went down to Leeds on the train - a relatively pain-free journey other than the train was about 20 minutes late so we had to go straight to the venue with our luggage. This also went down to the wire. I was lying in 3rd going in to the last game with Wayne snapping at my heels. We were both one game behind the leaders - Gary Oliver and Paul Allan. With me playing Gary and Wayne playing Paul I really needed Wayne to win as Gary was realistically too far ahead on spread for me to overhaul him. Wayne did the decent thing but unfortunately a high-scoring bonus from Gary near the end of our match meant that although I still won the game I was a measly 5 points of spread behind Wayne and finished 3rd. Good luck to both Gary and Wayne in the final.

Two weeks later and it was the NSC Teams final. Paul was also away that weekend but Diana and Reg had kindly agreed to look after Jen and Poncho for us. I thought I had been really organised in loading the car with their beds, food etc until I arrived and discovered that I had forgotten to put their bowls in the car - left sitting on the drive where I had dumped them prior to ensuring they had done the necessary before packing them in the car. Continued on to Allan's and once Stuart had arrived we all set off for Bradford. We had booked in to the Holiday Inn (tourney venue) for the Friday night rather than setting off at some godforsaken hour the following day for an 11 a.m. start. It is fair to say that the whole team greatly underperformed...

My study plan is behind schedule - having to actually play not only screws up those days but also the following day or two with having to catch up on the cardbox. WSC approaching way too fast...

On the non-scrabble front my sock knitting has been continuing.

A pair for MIL

and two more pairs for me.

Almost finished another pair but fear I may run out of wool a few rows short. This could be a minor disaster as the on-line store where I got the yarn cheaply no longer stocks this colour. Have spotted some on ebay so fingers crossed - dye lot should not matter with this yarn. It is especially annoying as it is the same brand as my other only long pair of socks where I was a couple of rows short, and I amended the pattern to overcome this...

Other news - new bath arrived last week.

Paul and I went up to the Edinburgh Playhouse to see Lee Evans for Paul's big birthday.

Margaret's new barn is being built. Just to prove that we are also have an Indian summer...


Oh - and I have reached my half-century!

Start All Over Again...

I finally got to the end of the 8s yesterday. Hurrah! 40161 of them. I skipped through quite a lot near the end - not too concerned about adding them to the cardbox if they required a blank to ever actually be played.

I must say that the back end is stacked with Jewish and what I would guess are Afrikaans tongue twisters.

Back to the beginning again now. Scary how I am struggling with these - I am getting them but some are taking a lot longer than I would like.

Study plan now consists of
1) Clear cardbox
2) 500 7s
3) Clear cardbox
4) 500 8s
5) Clear cardbox
6) Do a 'set' of words - this can be anything. 4s, 5s, a particular suffix...
7) Clear cardbox

How long I will keep this up I don't know.

I have my BEST quarter final against Wale Fashina fixed for next Tuesday/Wednesday.

The garden has been largely ignored lately - but I don't feel too guilty as the weather has been pretty awful on the whole.

But I can knit socks while I am studying...


Which is just as well, as I seem to have accumulated quite a lot of sock yarns in a fairly short time...

What's It Mean Then?

At times it feels as if I am force-feeding myself with words. I am full up but more keep coming.

I was getting through 500 a day, but I have reduced it to 250 on more days now. This is because, unlike me, the cardbox has a limitless capacity for gobbling up what I feed it. I am giving it not only the words I miss (known but not got and never seen before in my life) but also ones that were guessable, just to reinforce them in my memory.

My hit rate varies between 70-90% on the 'new' words, and I am about 90% on the cardbox. It does seem to take 3 or more goes at getting some of them fixed in my brain. And some I totally despair of ever getting right on a consistent basis.

It is nice, however, to be doing something new rather than keep going over the same stuff . There are some really neat words that I may never get to play :)

I hit the 35000 mark yesterday...

A Month of Scrabble

So I guess some people might be interested in my scrabble progress.

After my success in the Scottish NSC heat I returned to the Dewar Centre in Perth to play in the Scottish Open a couple of weeks later. As fate would have it we were playing in the same room again - not where it normally was held. It occurred to me after day 1 that I had never lost a game in that room, 21 wins out of 21. I continued the run for the next 3 games, but unfortunately Allan beat me narrowly in the next game to overtake me on spread. We both won our penultimate game, meaning we played each other for the third time to decide the title. This game went a lot better - 3 bonuses by move 6 saw me run away with it.

The UK Masters at the start of July. Allan and I went down to Stone by train the day before. Mixed fortunes here. I was still in contention with three games to go, but when I lost to Wayne it was all over for me. I finished sixth on 9.5/16 to at least hold my rating.

Finally on to the Scotland BEST group final, best of 11 against Allan. I was never behind, with Allan catching me back up, so yet again it came down to the last final game. I was ahead on spread so started the deciding game. And raced away..

I had already decided to not go to the BMSC this year, having the NSC semis and team final in September, and now also a best of 15 quarter final against Wale Fashina to fit in in August.

I have received an added incentive to keep studying after Theresa's excellent result in the UK Open. Onwards and upwards with the 8s... 7411 to go.

Longest Rainy Day

I've picked a great year to resume knitting. So it is meant to be a winter pastime, but tell the weather that. Been peeing down continuously here today...

I have just finished my fifth pair of socks - and I am getting better.

These used the Skew pattern by Lana Holden via Ravelry.com. An interesting pattern but very easy, just need to concentrate on what row you are on. Certainly my best effort to date.

So I have now progressed from Jean's basic top-down pattern (one 4-ply and one DK with two colours), a toe-up disaster pair with a 'waste' odd ball of dk, an OK toe-up pair with left-over DK from a jumper and now these with basic 4-ply sock wool. I have learnt how to knit on two circulars, almost mastered kitchener stitch and Judy's magic cast on.

I have been building up a good stash of quality sock yarns via Ebay and fellow Raveler destashes (I am picking up the lingo). So far I have resisted Wollmeise, which appears to be THE yarn - but it is very difficult to get unless you pay way over the odds. It can't be that good, can it?

My KF jacket is on hold again. I had resumed, but then ran out of the blue I was using for the current row of star outlines. More should be on its way from Inner Mongolia!

I have fitted in some scrabble. The Scottish NSC heat just over a week ago, and for the second year in a row I won with a 7-0 record. Simon almost beat me, having been ahead for the whole game except for the last move after I had made a second bonus opening leaving one tile in the bag. My final bonus played in both places - phew. I also was very pleased to spot (J)OL(L)ITIES in the game against Kate when OILIEST/IOLITES did not play. The Border Reivers (Allan, Stuart and me) also won the team event to progress to the finals later in the year.

Two days later I played my round 3 BEST match against Amy. I won 5-1, but it may have been very different. Game 1 and I got off to a flier, but Amy almost caught me back up before I surged ahead again - certainly had me worried. Game 2 was close, but a couple of phonies by Amy probably cost her that game. In game 3 I got away with ENTOTO(M)Y (misremembered TENOTOMY) but Amy was 140 ahead after CRAZIES and held onto it until I hit back with two consecutive bonuses (REALIGN (74) and then hooking FlASHED on to the triple for 110) to take a 25 point lead and empty the bag. With INSVWY she should still have won if she blocked my WINY for 36 on a triple but I think she was in shock so I scraped home by 9. A scrappy game 4 that Amy won when she had a play out of MIRAGE which I couldn't score enough in blocking it. Game 5 was mine all the way - a nice spot of DAMASSI(N) near the end and Amy conceded. Game 6 also went my way, opening with QUIRKY for 64 and then a bonus on move 2, a mid game bonus and a 9x final play of FID(D)LeRS for 158 saw me score 616 to Amy's not many.

I have only got out in the garden a couple of times. One foray up the high bank to pull out nettles and cleavers - it looks a lot better. Yesterday I got in a full day - mainly spent on the last section of the LBE, removing weeds, stone and clay from the bottom couple of feet, but ending with some enjoyment. A trip to Edrom nursery on Saturday so some planting. Two unusual yellow flowering hardy impatiens, both of which I managed to split into two .And two more saxifrages, one of which I could split, the other I didn't want to risk yet. And a few other things that still need to be planted... I also relocated a patch of baby hellebores that I was pleased to spot as their parent was long dead.

Now I am back to weather forecast watching. Rain doesn't look like stopping up here for the foreseeable future...

Malta 2011

An early start on the 5th to catch the 6.55 flight to Malta, still trying to throw off the cold I had acquired the week before. Met up with Simon, Sheena and Margaret at the departure gate.The flight wasn't fully booked so Simon and I had a spare seat between us to put our books etc. on.

Was met at the airport by Geoff and Tess and, after a detour to buy a new coffee percolator, was safely deposited on their sofa by the early afternoon.

The European Open commenced the following afternoon. It did not go well for me - a combination of poor picks and not playing at my best meant that I was never in contention. Tess, on the other hand, was flying high and had won the event with games to spare. After staying late to help Amy clear the equipment away we met up with Tess's family and she treated us all to a celebration meal.

The following day was the Brousson Invitational Scrabble Tournament. Amy, John Chew, Mohammad Sulaiman, Simon, Cecil, Vince, Kevin, Mikki, myself and Tess. We each put 10 euros in the kitty and played 6 swiss rounds followed by a king-of-the-hill. Prizes agreed beforehand - 50/30/20. Amy was on fire. having beaten Simon in their BEST match in the morning, winning 6-1, Tess second 5-2 just pipping me on spread. Mikki in fourth meant a complete thrashing of the weaker sex :)

We had a lazy next day, but a quick trip to the Medina glass factory and I spent my winnings on a very pretty small vase.

Thursday was a trip over to Gozo, Geoff and the dogs (Poppet, Lily and Smudge) replacing Mikki and Mohammad from the BIST line-up. A very pleasant day - a couple of drinks overlooking the sea, then lunch and then off to the beach in the afternoon. Ice-cream, another beer, a few concensus games and a quick paddle. It was warmer than last year but I still opted to not go for a swim...

The Malta International Scrabble Open started the following afternoon.

After having only a third of the available blanks in the EO the tile gods decided to laugh at me from on high. They gave me every single one on the Friday but with such utter dross that I was only 4-3 at the end of play. Hence my report will be somewhat lacking in detail as I was beginning to lose the will to carry on...

But carry on I did.

Lucky T-shirt donned on the Saturday and with more balanced racks but fewer blanks I rallied back to 11-6 at the end of day 2. Still 3.5 wins behind Evan but now well positioned to make third or even second place. The lucky (and not too smelly) T-shirt was going to be worn again the next day!

Tess first game up on the Sunday. It did not start well but I was feeling a lot more focused and soon my luck changed. A pivotal moment was when Tess laid SHRIGhT on the board for a good score, but had doubts and picked it back up. Then RIGHTeS(T) went down, opening a 9x. She changed her mind again and finally played bRIGHTS for a much lower score, leaving me the E I required for a high scoring DISTHEN(E) rather than a face-value H(A)NDIEST. I had enough ammunition to go on to win the game.

Next was Terry Kirk, who had beaten me on day 1 after I had played a phony and then got severely punished for my mistake. A bonus in the last quarter of the game should have seen him home and dry. My rack of DEEENNS and I made the correct decision of playing D(O)EN, leaving the N as the floater rather than D(O)NE and a good pick of COT. An eternity passed waiting to see if Terry would block the N but he opted to score. The bonus went down giving me a 17 point lead with three tiles in the bag. A long hold from Terry and then he challenged. I knew I must be safe with a playout from the last three tiles. Phew!

Evan next - an opportunity to close the gap, which was now down to 2.5. And I took it - the game is on centrestar - game 20.

I was beginning to believe I was in with a chance.

Last game before lunch, Yi En Gan. I had also lost to him earlier by 7 points when he had inadvertently created a 9x spot, and I had played for and picked the A I needed for ANTID(O)RA/(MAUN)D and he blocked it again in blocking a different opening :( This game went much more smoothly for me, countering his bonuses with my own higher scoring ones and picking up a couple of 5-point penalties to boot (BOOMINGS and ARCHAIZE).

I really didn't want a lunch break. Not only that but before we resumed there was a raffle that I thought was never going to end. Like a recurring nightmare every time I thought it was over another colour and number was boomed out over the microphone. However, eventually it did come to an end.

Carmel Dodd, who had been having a very good run, next. But this time the tile gods smiled on me and I ran out an easy victory.

I was now the only person who could catch Evan, 1.5 games behind with two to play. My fate was in my own and Evan's hands.

Game 23

I spent far too long trying to decide what to play when I had both blanks, and eventually just plonked something on the board as I was down to about 6 minutes and Evan plays like a rocket. Luckily my racks balanced and I could play reasonably quickly for the remainder of the game and held on to win.

Game 24

What a relief to see a bonus on my opening rack - I think only my second of the whole tourney. It certainly settled my nerves and probably did the opposite for Evan. It is interesting being annotated - I was far from convinced that MONEY(I)NG was good but was concerned that I could look rather foolish if it was and I didn't play it! It did help that I had a healthy lead. Apart from that I did play reasonably well...

So I ended the trip on a high. A celebratory meal at Avenue on the Sunday night with Tess, Geoff and John, and a thankyou meal at Mamma Mia on the following night.

The diet will be starting soon...

Busily Doing Nothing

I really don't know where the time goes. I would never be able to fit work in again...

A few busy days in the garden followed by an enforced rest due to gale force winds. It is now very clear that I have lost a lot of shrubs due to the severely cold winter. The long bank has suffered badly - most of the hebes, both mahonias, the photinia as well as the previously mentioned brooms. And in the herb patch all the lavenders and both rosemaries.

However, I decided to continue on my plan for the high bank rather than attack the long bank at this time. I fully removed the previously hacked back spiraea - a good physical work out with fork, secateurs and loppers but eventually I prevailed. Paul volunteered for more slash and burn duty. The honeysuckle that I guess was meant to climb up the telegraph pole but actually layered more and more growth on top and forwards had to go - every year I tried to control it and dismally failed. And then the spiraea behind it that had been neglected due to previous lack of access. Once Paul had finished I made an attempt at removing the root but even after a good hour of digging around it it remained solid as a rock. I satisfied myself with just digging over and removing as much root as I could find in front of it.

The second acer that was living in a pot has now been relocated into the cleared space.

The work done has completely changed the view of the left side, now allowing me to see the previously hidden top of the high bank, which necessitated one more trip up there for bramble control. I plan to split and transplant primroses/primulas and a lot of foxglove seedlings that I have found in the LBE up the top to supplement the daffodils and bluebells that are already up there. A trip to Lamberton/Edrom nurseries is also on the cards as the area is well suited to some woodland plants - damp shade...

I am really loving looking at the LBE - almost every day I see something new flowering or bursting through the ground - and not just weeds :)

On the knitting front I finished the Kaffe Fassett inspired jacket and now have to decide whether to change the buttons. I didn't win the buttons I originally wanted on Ebay so bought some others. And just after I had sewn them on I got a second chance offer on the first ones! I decided to get them and they do look a lot more suitable...

I then embarked on my first pair of socks. The first sock is done and I have got to the toe of the second. I have found knitting on two circulars is a lot easier for me than a set of DPNs.

Another reorganisation of my wool stash and ebay buying strategy into colours. Not quite a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and mauves/purples and black, white, pink and brown... I have been busily buying different shades of yellows and oranges in different fibres ready for my next couple of KF projects.

The bridge season is coming to an end. A topsy-turvy season for Berwick A, but great relief on Monday when a winning draw in our penultimate league match meant we were safe from relegation. Great relief for our opponents too, who like us needed a single point for safety. It is going to make my captain's report at the AGM a lot easier...

Ongoing scrabble study and I hit the 30000 mark on 8s a while back. Now keeping cardbox under control, going back through 7s and revising 4s again. BEST match is organised for the 13th April and then off to Malta in May.

Win Some, Win Some More

Where to start?

Berwick A played and won their third match of the season, leaping from the bottom of the second division league into fifth place with games in hand.

Ebay... Well, I have now bought :

400g grey aran (£4.40) that turned out to be fawn. I didn't mind but seller seemed a little upset when I down marked her on lot description in the feedback!

1230g assorted yarns (£10.11) - a good mix of colours, plies and textures

570g chunky/aran (£11.20) - five different colours

350g 4ply/dk mixed greens (£5.55) - included some chenille and a fancy silky yarn

300g+ mohair mix (£7.25) - pale green and a pretty pink

500g+ eyelash/feather fancy yarns (£7.20) - pinks, mauves, blues and blacks

610g small balls (£9.50) - 60 different colours

500g grey 30% wool aran (£17.55) - this was the colour on the photo!

I have started using some of it - doing one of the patterns from the Odd-Ball knitting book.

11 piece set of 60cm stainless steel circular needles (£7.00)

15 piece set of 80cm bamboo circular needles (£6.50)

I am particularly pleased with the bamboo needles having not won the previous 3 sets I bid on which were going for £8.00+. Patience paid off.

I am having great fun on ebay. The cut-and-thrust of competetive knitters. Watching the last few minutes of what you have bid on counting down. Watching the last few minutes of what you are 'watching' when there is a bidding war going on. One batch of wool leapt from £10 to £26.00 in the last two minutes...

Also I am quite interested in the fact that people overbid, obviously not researching what they are bidding on. There was one lot that I was watching that you can buy on Amazon for under £27.00 but has just sold at £31.00! I have two more lots I am currently winning on that end this afternoon and I have done my homework. Maximum bids at cheapest price found - n%, n varying depending upon how much I want it. Fingers crossed...

Finally, scrabble.

I had never done well in the Scottish Masters despite being the top seed every time I have played in it. Well, this year I lived up to my seeding. 9 wins out of 12. 12 blanks out of 24. The three games I lost were all blank-less, against Neil, Simon and finally Allan in the king-of-the-hill round when I was a game ahead and he needed to beat me by about 500 to overtake me. I had beaten Allan in the round-robin earlier in the day when he also had both the blanks.

Some nice bonuses played:

ORIGaMI, PINWEED and NONBaS(I)C against Ross

sHOWTI(M)E and PANDITS against Ricky

IN(U)NDATE and ELONGAT(E) against Stu

PALELIN(G) against Neil

POTIONs, INUNDAT(E) (again) and SCURVIES against Kate

(R)EASONER and SHERbE(R)T against Ray

PAIGLEs and OGREISM against Alan

ZENITHA(L), W(I)NTRiER, PERTAIN, TOURACO and DUELIST against Marion

INHERIT against Allan

zilch against Simon

CROZIER, BADGERS and TOLUENE against Amy

Two more against Allan but can't remember what...

And another stupendous sperm count of +1221...

Win Some, Lose Some

I had a very pleasant long weekend at the Chester scrabble tourney. I didn't quite manage to win the required 14 games to maintain my rating but 13 was good damage limitation, and as the Phenomenon would say (but I can't, being a woman) had a massive sperm count amassing a spread of +1543. I lost my third game to Beverley when I emptied the bag taking off a spot for a 7 and she spotted a great outplay of (T)ONGSTER making 4 two-letter parallel words. I also lost to David Shenkin, giving him extra spread when I made a last-ditch attempt to win and he bonused out. My third loss was to Robert Richland - I had been keeping up with him as he played off all the goodies except the Q which he kindly let me have at the end when I had just opened a second bingo line keeping a bonus-friendly rack. My final loss was to Wayne Kelly by 2 points when I couldn't play out in 2 and score enough holding ACELNNV.

I did play some very nice bonus words over the weekend including GRYPHON(S) and picking INVADE? straight after playing MELTONS opening up a 9-x with S in sixth to finish the tourney with a 200+ win against Phil Robertshaw.

We finished playing at around 10 p.m. in the evenings which allowed some very enjoyable socialising, playing other board games and a few drinks...

I thoroughly recommend this tournament - 17 games, enough time to relax, very well run and the food at the hotel was excellent. Many thanks to Kathy and Dave for making my first outing here so much fun.

Now on to some things I have won!

Paul and I played in the Bobby Allan simultaneous pairs a week ago. We knew we had done well at the Berwick bridge club, scoring 73.7%. We then had a very nervous wait whilst all the scores from the other clubs came in. Our score came down slightly as the other results came in but the result was finalised yesterday and with 71.6% we finished well ahead of second place. I did notice that the pair in sixth place appear to be impostors, Stuart and Dave, as this was a mixed pairs event!

Having got back in to knitting and chatting to Mike O'Rourke over the weekend, who I was permanently sat next to other than the one game when I played him, he mentioned a friend of his who dyes and sells her own wool. On Monday he gave me a link to her website and I went and had a look. Glorious looking wool, but then I wandered off looking at other wool. And got drawn in to ebay...

After failing on a few bids I won my first auction this morning, 400 grammes of grey aran. My next deadline is in about another hour and a half. And I have bids in on another 8 lots and watching another 13! My mountain is in danger of becoming a range. However, I did see 'The Odd-Ball Knitting Book' on there and found I could get a second hand copy with free postage from Amazon at about the same price as just the ebay postage. It arrived today and is full of great ideas, with patterns for hats, gloves, scarves, socks, cushion covers through to a rather glorious looking entralac jacket.

Causeway 2010 Report Number Four

I sat down to game 1 feeling fairly confident. My preparations had been better than ever before. I had revised well, not over-studying. I had got over any jetlag I may have had. I was feeling healthy - no sniffs or snuffles that I frequently pick up from the travel and air-con. And I had not spent the night before socialising in the bar.

So why did it go so horribly wrong???

I came out of day 1 shell-shocked. Only 2 wins. I have looked at the two annotated games. I didn't play that badly - indeed, I played a lot better than Naween. And I was unlucky to lose by 1 point to Howard in the last game of the day - a strategical decision to score that would have given me a narrow victory in the vast majority of cases rather than block one of the two bingo lanes...

Day two started a lot better but collapsed again in the afternoon but at least I had won more than I lost, 6-4 for the day. I was very pleased with PAR(V)OLIN(S) against Mohammed Sulaiman, a game where I got 5 bonuses.

Day three and I had all the top seeds to play. Target was to win half my games but I failed by one, only taking the scalps of Pakorn, Moses Peter and David Boys. I played a near perfect game against Nigel but to no avail.

Day four and I managed to scrape a majority for the day including a cracking game against Komol. This game was annotated but has not yet been posted on the website.

I needed to win all 6 on day five to maintain my rating. Well, I failed that at the first hurdle. And the second.

I should also have fallen flat on my face in game 3 of the day as well against Nsikak Etim. He started humming on my opening move so I asked him to refrain. On move 2 he played GIRNIES with the only playable bonuses through a D which I duly blocked. He then started to play SIGNIE(U)R until he realised it didn't fit and spent the next 5 minutes squirming. He was no longer humming. However, five moves later he had picked the first blank and pulled back some of his deficit. He got the second blank and mEATLOA(F) saw him take a 42 point lead leaving three in the bag. I held EFIRSTV and gave myself a chance with two Es and 2 Us unseen made an opening dumping the F, leaving a spot for a 7 with S in sixth. Nsikak played parallel to his bingo and I played out with REVUIST to win.

Game 4 against Chris May. This game was also annotated but has not been published yet, but I don't need to see it to know how poorly I played. As I sat down to play game 5 against Nathan Benedict I realised I had missed ODOMETr(Y). I probably missed a lot more too. Nathan did not take pity on me.

So on to the icing on the cake. David Boys said after this game that he guessed I was being slaughtered as he could hear me laughing, and it would have been very bad manners to do so if I had been winning. I had said to Adam as we sat down that this had been a tournament from hell for me and he said he hoped to continue the run, but I think even he was embarrassed by his 5 bonuses in the first 7 moves interspersed with two 40+ plays :)

My perception of the tournament was of how many games I was playing catch up from the very start, with my opponent bingoing on move 1 or 2 of the game (Chinedu, Marut, Joel, Naween, Edet, Dennis, Mohammed, David E, Brett, Pakorn, Moses, Brian, David W, Nigel, Theresa, Patrick, Bob, Ron, Jakkrit, Komol, Jason, Joanne, Chris, Nathan and Adam - 25 games out of 45). Naween and Brian both opened with a double, Komol with a hat-trick, Joel and Nathan with three out of four, Nigel two out of three and Adam - see above! I had four other games where my opponent played three-in-a-row bonuses against me (Marut, Panupol, Mikki and Robert Linn).

My blank count was 35/90.

So an extremely disappointing 19/45 and 38th place. Would I do it all again - of course, but maybe next time I will spend more time in the bar in the evenings!

Causeway 2010 Report Number Two

The Original Singapore Walks "Secrets of the Red Lantern" around Chinatown was very interesting. We were given quite a lot of useful information re which hotels to avoid (or not for some). Indeed we could even tell the locals a few things they didn't know the next day!

Talking of the next day I did not excel in the mini tournament, with Albert taking the honours and me in the middle (or maybe bottom of) the pack. The few racks that I noted that looked hopeful were actually useless so maybe I didn't actually play too badly and am saving up the blanks for next week. I can hope :) Even the move when I opened up a 9x and immediately got walloped still looks the right play to me. However, despite my dismal showing the day was enjoyable meeting up with old and making new friends. Cheah treated us all to dinner in the evening but I was not as adventurous as Diane and Albert.

I did not sleep well last night. Well, actually I slept well until 2.30 but got woken up by music outside. My earplugs were hurting and trying to reinsert them still could not stop the noise. At just before 4 am I decided to don my wrap-around skirt over my jimjams and go outside for a ciggie. I am almost on first name terms now with the Chinese cabbies that wait outside the hotel in the early hours! When I got back inside bliss - no more music. However, I still tossed and turned quite a lot and think I finally fell asleep after the call to prayers...

Today Albert and I planned on doing a harbour cruise. The hotel receptionist said we should prebook so we decided to do the afternoon one instead as we weren't sure if we would make it there in time in the morning. So we set off for Clarke Quay at 11 a.m. and had a wander around that area before going for lunch. I wasn't actually hungry but really just wanted a drink, an ice cream, a ciggie and a rest so told Albert to pick anywhere he wanted as long as I could get an ice cream. So eating place picked, menus given, drinks ordered but no - ice cream finished for the day! I suggested rescinding our drink order and going elsewhere but was told I could buy an ice cream at the 7-11 and eat it there. Probably saved a fortune.

We weren't entirely sure where the South Marina pier was that we were supposed to get the boat. The people at the restaurant didn't know either. The map on the brochure wasn't very helpful other than giving us a vague idea. So we set off. And it looked as if it was about to bucket down any moment so we decided to head for the Marina Bay MRT bus stop were there was a pickup point. We got there with 10 minutes to spare and waited a further 15 after the supposed pick up time. Then as we could see a road sign for the south marina we decided to walk. And walk. And walk. Through the construction site that is happening there. Eventually a sign for the pier and we arrived just as the boat was pulling away. Luckily we hadn't paid up front and if they phone to try to get the 'cancellation' fee they may have a long wait.

So I now have a big blister under my left heel and a small one on my right heel. Albert wandered about the harbour while I investigated the buses (or actually bus) back out of the middle of nowhere. I then got the MRT back to Little India while Albert, whose earlier blister has healed, decided to keep walking.

I am feeling a little better now after a nice long shower and am going to have a quiet rest of the day and prepare for the next adventure of the number 170 bus to JB tomorrow.

Countdown to Singapore

With under two weeks before I leave I am on track with my revision. As long as I don't get distracted with too many other things. The garden is winding up - all potatoes out and just need one more session of muck spreading to get the bed ready for next year's apple trees...

After the mammoth spreadsheet of base words 2-6 I then did the same with the top 10000 sevens. Reduced the list by approximately 50%.

And now I am back to 8s. Hoping to get through the top 20000 before I depart for Singapore. I am over half way there. After whizzing through the top 5000 I am now doing batches of 500 from the starting points of 5001, 10001 and 15001 in rotation just to even the load.

The cardbox is coming back in to play with those I miss.

Mikki Magic

Mikki made a promise last year at Causeway.

"If I get to the NSC final I will go dressed as Barbie".

This I think was to make the point on how much money is invested in the doll over scrabble.

Oh what joy that he lived up to his promise. And even better that he won as I don't think there would have been the same impact had he lost.

Despite the media frenzy (at least in the context of scrabble) none that I have seen have made the link...

Izzy Wizzy

It has been a very busy week. And that without any gardening being done...

Last weekend was the NSC semis. The Scottish gang (Allan, Simon, Stu and myself) travelled down to Leeds together. Philips never turned up - nobody knew that he wasn't going...

I started well, winning the first four games and then crashed and burned for the rest of day 1. However, I thought 11 wins should still be enough to get to the final. I was right, but unfortunately it wasn't me but Mark Nyman who swept the board on day 2. We actually played each other in game 9, but the tile gods were definitely smiling on Mark in that game. I ended up 8-6, some damage to my rating but not too much. That is it for the domestic scene for me this year. Next stop JB at the start of December for the Causeway Challenge where I will be playing for the UK team.

The dogs had been put into kennels as Paul was also away that weekend playing bridge in Solihull. I retrieved them on Monday morning much to their delight. I am not sure how much Jen ate whilst away as I had never see her eat her dinner so fast. I then had to retrieve Paul from Berwick station in the afternoon.

On Tuesday evening it was the East District team secretaries meeting to arrange the fixtures for the coming bridge season. I met up with Reg and he drove us on an hour early as there was another meeting he was attending prior to mine. All I can say is that I was not prepared for the chaos. However, all the matches are now in the diary subject to cancellations/rearrangements with only one minor disaster which has now been resolved.

Wednesday and I started working on which of my team members I want to play for which matches. I just needed a couple of confirmations of availability/willingness to play (which I got last night). I now have provisional team line-ups for all the matches, hopefully keeping everyone as happy as possible with the number of 'caps' they will get - both where they want to play almost every match and where they only want to play a couple. Time will tell :)

Wednesday was also the first of the major veggie picking sessions. Given almost a week left to its own purposes with rain and sunshine the veggie patch had gone mad. Luckily I had thought ahead and stocked up on freezer bags and sent away for a blanching basket when Youngman's did not stock such an item.

So, three and a quarter pounds of dwarf purple beans picked. Some donated to Penny and the rest were washed, topped, tailed, chopped, blanched, bagged and put in the freezer.

Reg had given me a bag full of plums, apples and cooking apples on Tuesday evening. So yesterday was baking day. A quick search on the web and I decided on an apple pie (I had a couple of blocks of pastry in the freezer) and a plum cobbler. I had just over two and a half pounds of plums and that seemed perfect for Delia's recipe. I got Paul to help with removing the stones. With the left over pastry from the apple pie I made marmite rolls, which I ate hot from the oven.

In the evening I played bridge with Reg at the club . Our first ever partnership but I will be playing with him in a couple of the league fixtures so we need to get some practice in. No disasters, but none of the system changes that Paul has made for me over the summer (transfers, Michaels, unusual NT) came up. I was pleased to remember that Reg's overcall of 2C over a 1NT opener was for the majors and respond correctly. It must have exhausted me as I slept in this morning until 11.40!!!

This afternoon was the first session of runner bean processing. I had also sent away for a runner bean slicer on the recommendation of both Jean and Penny. I picked four pounds from just one of my wigwams - must have at least as many again ready on wigwam number 2 and still loads more coming. Paul was in charge of the bean slicing and me on the blanching/bagging. Two (prepared) pounds now in the freezer, some put aside for us/Margaret - those that were too fat for the gadget.

Bridge again tonight in the Borders v Edinburgh match. I am playing with Paul...

All the 8s

Well I did it...

I deleted the whole damned caboodle from the cardbox.

It was a chore, having too much in it and not necessarily words I wanted to revise, and as such I had stopped using it.

And I have started a new one.

You may have thought I had given up studying what with all the gardening. It is true that I am doing nowhere near as much at the moment, but I am still trying to do some every day. I am currently, and have been for a while now, concentrating on 8s. These are definitely my weak area...

I am attacking them from more than one direction.

I should have finished revising the top 10000 by the BMSC this coming weekend, and now I am just adding those I miss into the cardbox. I will keep working my way through over time.

Alongside that I am slowly going through the higher probability 8s. I started at 23k, as that was as far as I had got when I was card boxing. With these I do a quick test, breaking them up into chunks of 250 words. Those I miss or get but wouldn't bet my life on in a game get saved to a file in groups of 1000, e.g. 8missed-23k-24k. I then retest myself on those files several times. After several passes then those missed also get added to the cardbox.

It is actually quite fun doing this - learning some new words as opposed to constant revision. I am currently going through 28001-29000.

This and That

It was the UK Masters last week. The toughest event in the domestic scrabble calendar - the top 16 players in the UK are invited and then down the ratings list for the reserves. So no easy games unlike in Swiss paired events where if you lose a couple of games you are likely to get a much lower rated opponent.

In the past it has been a straight round robin, but this year it was decided to add on another three games after the round robin stage. Which was a real bummer for me - for the first time in many years of trying I was leading after the first 15 games. The title would have been mine for the first time, after coming so close so many times before. I won the first of the extra games against Paul Allan so Lewis Mackay and I were two clear of the field with two to go. My spread was well ahead of Lewis so essentially I just needed to win one of our two matches. But the tile gods decided to abandon me. or to be more accurate smile on Lewis. So I lost the first match by a heart wrenching two points. Don't panic - I could still do it. But our opening racks set the tone for the decider - I had AEEIRRU, and Lewis was blessed with two Ss and a blank. His responding bonus to my opening dump of URAEI blocked my GROOMED bonus and so the game went, in the end me losing by thirty something.

Things are going better in the veggie garden...

Jean called in on Paul while I was away and told him the potatoes looked ready to her. So I have started harvesting them now, beginning with the rogue ones in the veggie patch from last years missed potatoes, potato 'pips' and spade-sliced-off sections of potato. I had been removing most of them when they appeared in the wrong places but left two patches to their own devices. So I have now cleared the area around the runner beans and have started to dig up the ones by the tomatoes. Jen has decided that the ones in the fruit-tree-bed-to-be need excavating too - luckily also the spare ones that I transplanted into the last gap. She knows she shouldn't go in there but makes a bee-line for it almost every time I let her out the back. I did a Basil Fawlty on her yesterday with the broken off potato plant which just ended up with her covered in dirt and giving me an equally dirty look.

Jen is actually my biggest garden pest. She seems to think my raised planters are her vantage points. The middle one is safe, with the hoops and butterfly netting but RP1 has paw prints in it - luckily the seeds seem to have taken it in their stride - npi. RP3 is the latest victim - we let Poncho and Jen out the back on returning from food shopping and I watched her run and jump straight in it. Luckily it is only half planted and just a few carrots squished before I dragged her out.

So on to the veggies.

Life In The Raised Planters:

RP1:
My first sown surviving carrots appear to be maturing - how do you know when they are ready?
The lettuces are overtaking us now. I have picked a few of the small romaine ones to let the others (another dozen) reach a good size and the salad bowl ones are growing faster than we can eat them. And I have another sowing of the romaine variety on the way in here.
More spinach and rocket coming up too - one of my severed spinach plants re-sprouted. And another row of radishes...

RP2:
The cabbages I left in there are pushing up the butterfly netting. Another half dozen need transplanting.
A second sowing of kale is doing well but will need to be moved as they are being swamped by the cabbages. Not sure whether to just move them into the veggie patch as they are still very small.
And another row of radishes...

My pickling onions seem to be thickening, as are the bulb onions.
I am still concerned about the leeks...

RP3:
Yet more lettuces. Lucy has suggested making lettuce soup which I had no idea existed - I will definitely give it a go.
I have been harvesting a few radishes every couple of days - almost finished the first sowing. I had a go with the radish-top pesto after a trial run with the last of the first sown rocket. It was okay but I think I over-seasoned and garlicked it - the rocket was better. And I have another row of radishes coming...
More carrots - Jen permitting, kale and spinach - although only three plants germinated.
And the red onions that I just bunged in are now about to flower...

Life In The Veggie Patch:

Just over 6 lbs of 'free' potatoes so far, although some of these are the Jen ones.
The first of my peas have flowered and pods are appearing.

My runner beans are flowering, and the first wigwam has been covered. The second wigwam is well under way with one plant ignoring it and making a dash for freedom. The first obelisk is also very colourful, although they have only climbed about half way so far.
The dwarf beans are flowering away merrily. Another batch have been planted free-standing as the first ones don't appear to want to climb the netting.

I have transplanted the three surviving first sown kale plants and they seem to be appreciating it.
The cabbages are thriving. The first transplanted cabbages that survived the slugs and snails are now bulking up. Another dozen winter cabbages are now in the veggie patch.
I have now counted 11 baby tomatoes.
I am also tempted to pick some of the rhubarb - all three crowns look exceptionally healthy an it seems a shame not to have any home-grown rhubarb this year.

On the fruit front I have already picked as much weight-wise as I have potatoes! This is one of four main patches. And they will keep coming for the next couple of months. One batch of jam already made.

I have decided to branch out and make some elderflower cordial, in competition with Jean and Penny. So I went on the web to find recipes. You are spoilt for choice, but I was left a little bewildered trying to work out how much by volume the recipes actually produce. So if you use 3 pints of water and then add three pounds of sugar how come you still only get 3 pints. So I asked Penny - and she says it makes more as I expected. And on further questioning I discovered hers sound more like syrup with the amount of sugar she uses. Anyway I thought I would try this recipe. So I then scoured the web looking for citric acid, campden tablets and a suitable container and found all that I needed here. My package arrived this morning.

And then I branched out again as whilst looking I had come across the Collins Gem Food For Free book and that sounded rather enticing. So on to Amazon and I ordered a copy. And a couple of books on jams, chutneys and preserves. Awaiting my next package with eager anticipation.

Back to more mundane things and I have made a start on cleaning and tidying the house. Gerry and family are coming next week for a few days. So the sunroom is now looking a lot better with the dead flies hoovered up from the window sills.

And finally I have disproved the old adage Red Sky At Night as it peed down starting in the early hours and continuing on until late morning...

Back On The Study Wagon

I had taken a sort of break with my word studying. The garden was/is taking up a lot of my time and to be honest I had lost my enthusiasm for it. However, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

So about three weeks ago I decided to put in a concerted effort on the lower probability 7s and actually go through them all starting at 20001, which I certainly haven't done for a very long time - probably pre Sowpods. And today I got to the end. Hurrah. I'm not saying that I know them all, but I know a lot more now than I did... And now I have gone back to the start - just whizzed through the top 1000. Hopefully will get some time in on the high-prob 8s before the masters next weekend too.

I'm also revising the fours. Trying Joel Wapnick's technique of trying to fix every tenth word and then fill in the gaps. Works when I can actually remember the key words - I have found I don't even need to remember all the key words as long as I can remember enough of them to know whether I am on track or not. Only problem will be when we change dictionary again...

I haven't touched my cardbox. Am thinking of scrapping it and starting again, only adding in words I miss or are of the type that leap out as the only possible answer but are not in my normal/high-probability scrabble vocabulary. I still think revising the high-probability words more frequently is more beneficial.