Eights - part 1

I hate doing eights - they are so much harder than sevens - but a certain amount of study is an unfortunate necessity.

I have started with the single solution sets in probability order. I was not impressed with my progress after completing the top 2500, but I was pleased to get quite a few of the ones that normally trip me up or take what seems like an eternity, so it is not all doom and gloom.

I started over again. The second time through is a lot better, but this is probably short term memory. I think the key to eights for me is repetition, repetition, repetition. This can be extremely boring and the danger is that I just switch off. However, the quicker I get the less time to get bored. My target is that a set of 500 should take up to 50 minutes - this is a good time for concentration as it is the length of a game.

In a game you do not have someone tapping you on your shoulder saying 'hey - you've got an 8 with that A on the board'. Unlike sevens, when all the tiles are sitting in front of you, with eights you have to mentally anagram your rack with what tiles are 'floating' (i.e. available to play around) on the board. This makes eights even harder to find and play.

According to the book 'How To Win at Scrabble', written by my friends Andrew Fisher and David Webb, 82% of eights will be played from the top 40% probability, 89% from the top 50% probability.

I freely admit to being very lazy with eights at the board - if my tiles do not look promising (i.e. not high probability) I will often not even look to see if there is a possibility of one if I do not desperately need one. I may lose the occasional game from this strategy, but I think I may also win some by better general rack management to steer my tiles to what I have studied, and time saved in searching when there is none to be found.

Scrabble Revision Results: 7 letters 1 answer

I have just finished revising the top 8000 probability sevens with one anagram. I failed to get 194 of the answers. Embarrassingly some of what I missed a complete novice would get. It is not that I do not know the words (in many cases) but because of how I test myself - at least that is my excuse. I am trying to get to almost automatic recognition of the alphagrams and their solutions. There is no point staring at the alphagram for 5 minutes to get the answer - you will lose the game on time penalties...

One problem is I often see a non-word immediately that should then trigger the actual word. However, sometimes I do not recognise the phony as being a trigger. It does help if it is an obvious nonsense word but that is not always the case. A couple of examples where I failed to recognise the trigger for what it was:

ABDEORV - trigger OVERBAD = BRAVOED
ADEMOSY - trigger SAMOYED = SOMEDAY

And an example of a trigger that works:
CENRSTU - trigger very rude = ENCRUST

Another problem is that I can get into a mindset. If I have had a run of two or three words that follow a pattern, then frequently when the next alphagram pops up my brain just follows that pattern and comes up automatically with the wrong answer.

Example: ACEGINZ AEFGINZ AEGHINZ...
CEAZING FEAZING HEAZING WRONG! GENIZAH

Hopefully this would not happen in a game situation...

I also find words that do not fit to the standard 'scrabble players' way of anagramming incredibly hard to solve. They can be 'everyday' words that just throw you completely. Amongst those I failed dismally on were ACHIRTU and BCEHIOR... HAIRCUT and BRIOCHE. Hopefully they will come screaming at me from now on.

Sometimes the problem is a muddling of known words: PECTATE SPECTATE SPECTATOR SECTATOR therefore logically SECTATE.... missing the everyday word CASETTE.

I also find it fascinating that changing just one letter can give amazingly different word structures. Take AAISTT? This rack yields the following nine very different solutions:

aBattis astatiC satiatE saGitta astatKi tataMis attaiNs stRiata and ataVist

The English language is a truly amazing thing...

Jen and Poncho in Disgrace

The weather is generally becoming a lot wetter and colder, but it is the days when we have strong winds that are the real killers. It is very difficult to hear cars when the wind is gusting through the trees. Getting ready for walks is taking longer - hats, coats, scarves and gloves for us, and coats and muzzles for Jen and Poncho. Our schedule has now changed to 'long' walks in the morning and afternoon, but the extended walks are less frequent now as they are less enjoyable. It is also getting dark quite early now - on grey/rainy days it can be getting dark at around 4 p.m. - so the start time of the afternoon walk is gradually being pulled back.

We had started undoing the dog's leads as we came up the drive, and they would bound up to the front door and wait for us. However, on Tuesday they obviously saw or smelt something up the high bank. Poncho stopped and started sniffing, and then Jen just jumped up quickly followed by Poncho. They spent five minutes running up and down and along the back of Margaret's barn, showing none of the trepidation and care that I had when working up there. They obviously didn't give a damn about the plants...

I was worried that they would run around the side of the barn to Margaret's - having seen the nettles, brambles and hogweed there they could have done themselves a lot of damage, not to mention what would happen if they saw Margaret's cats.

As it was lunch time I went and got their bowls and clanged them. This did the trick - the promise of food got them down. They had obviously thoroughly enjoyed themselves, but a severe telling off did make them look slightly abashed.

A Day in Edinburgh

I at last got round to filling in the visa application on Sunday for my trip to Bangalore.

Today, as the weather forecast was for dry and sunny, I went to the Indian Consulate in Edinburgh to get it processed. I drove to the park and ride at Newcraighall and got the train in - much less hassle than driving into Edinburgh itself, especially as I didn't know how long I would be.

I knew roughly where I had to go - it was in Rutland Square at the opposite end of Princes Street to Waverley station. I had a quick look at a bus route map, and saw I should turn left onto Lothian street, and it should be further up there on the right. I set off and wandered down Lothian street. I remembered that I had not dated my form - was not sure which day I would actually go to Edinburgh - and a quick check revealed I had no black pen in my handbag. I dived into a newsagents to buy one. I continued walking, but did not see the square. Luckily there was a traffic warden nearby, who very kindly directed me to an underpass under a building opposite which came out in the square.

It was about 11.15 when I found the consulate. As I was about to enter a man called out if I was enquiring about a visa to go to the basement. I enquired whether there was a ticket system, but no - everyone just shuffled along the chairs everytime someone was called to the counter. Just like the DHSS in Dundee as I recall, except the chairs weren't bolted to the floor...

I joined the queue at the end of row three of three - 17 people ahead of me. Two Indians immediatley in front of me realised they were in the wrong queue, and left. 15 people ahead of me. I shuffled along. As I sat there I realised the form I had filled in was different to the one on display. Mine was a London form from the web, theirs was an Edinburgh form. I decided for safety sake to fill in an Edinburgh form as well - I had plenty of time and a new black pen. At 11.50 there were 7 people ahead of me - so, about 5 minutes per person. At this rate I should just about make the 12.30 cut-off. Didn't look good for those who had come in after me...

And then a new man took over at the counter. Suddenly we were shuffling along at break-neck speed, and it was my turn. I handed over my Edinburgh form (definitely a shrewd move as I observed people frantically filling them in when the web form had been rejected), passport and the £30.00 fee. The bottle-neck came waiting to get our receipts for our passports - man number one had taken over this task. I was out by 12.15, having to go back between 16.00 and 17.00 to collect passport and hopefully visa.

I headed back to Princes street. I had £30 of M&S vouchers that Paul had won in various bridge tourneys, and the nearest M&S to us was here. I managed to spend them and more without too much of a problem, and also managed a little more Christmas shopping. By 2 p.m. I was beginning to flag, and stopped for lunch.

I still had over an hour to fill, and continued trudging up and down and in and out of shops, but my enthusiasm for the task had long since lapsed. I decided to wander back to the consulate early and wait - and found there was already a queue. They eventually opened the doors about 5 minutes late, but the process of retrieving the passports was a lot quicker. I collected mine plus visa, and headed straight back to Waverley station.

As I waited on the platform I attracted the nutter, or maybe I am just paranoid. I was the only person there at the time, and then this youngish lad arrived and sat on the same bench as me. I thought it odd. He then asked if I had the time. I wasn't wearing a watch, but pointed out there was a clock not far from us. He then started muttering a bit and whistling. I felt slightly better as a few more people had arrived on the platform by now. Then he moved into the seat next to me. I was fastidiously ignoring him. I was very relieved when he then got up and wandered further up the platform, and I ensured I got into a different carriage to him when the train arrived.

Anyway, only 2 months until I go to Bangalore. Flights booked and visa sorted. Need to sort out typhoid jab at the start of December...

Dogs, Scrabble, Gardening

Saturday night was a bit of trial for me. I think most people had decided to have their bonfire night a night early this year. Paul was away playing bridge again. Jen does not like bangs at the best of times, and she was absolutely terrified with the sounds of the fireworks going off. I think only one of our neighbours actually had a bonfire party, but sound travels amazingly far around here. She was shaking and panting, and for once when she climbed onto the sofa I let her stay there. Luckily Poncho did not seem to be bothered in the slightest, and all in all was a little angel with no signs of jealousy as I tried to keep Jen calm. Luckily there was a lull at around 7.30 p.m. and by 8 p.m. she was relaxed enough to go outside for a pee break. As we were out there were a few more loud bangs, and Jen pulled me back to the house.

Poncho is nowhere near as good at playing with squeaky toys as Jen. For him all the excitement is actually going to get them from the 'secret cupboard', grabbing one and racing back to the lounge. He is not as good as Jen at getting them to squeak and soon loses interest. Jen can keep up squeaking ad-infinitum. However, a yoghurt pot gets his full attention...






Now that I have less to do in the garden I have got back into the flow of word study. I am revising my sevens yet again. I have completed the couplets - alphagrams with two solutions (there are 3161 alphagrams in this list) , and am now doing the sevens with a unique solution (just under 21000 in total). I do them in probability order, and am currently on 4001-4500. I will not do them all - diminishing returns and all that. The theory is that the more often I do them the less time they should take. I am currently at a success rate of just under 99%.

I also discovered some time back that I cannot play for Scotland in the next WSC. Even though they changed the residency rules they decided this was not retrospective. However, there are two 'floating' U.K. places that I can go for - one for the highest ABSP rated player at the end of this year and one for the highest placed finisher in next years BMSC, who has not already been selected for a U.K. country. I am currently way ahead for the first floating place - keeping my fingers crossed...

The rest of my plant order has still not arrived. I have completed clearing out and digging over the small beds I used for annuals along the bottom of the long bank, and yesterday finished digging out the new bed along the trellis. I am now twiddling my thumbs...

A dreadful year for UK Scrabble

I at last got around to reading my scrabble magazine yesterday. Inside was an obituary of Karl Khoshnaw - best known around the scrabble world as the world record holder for playing CAZIQUE for 124 points on his opening move. I had first met Karl when he was a member of the Richmond club. I used to play in the East Berkshire team, and the Richmond v East Berks match almost always decided which of us would win the Southern Counties league for that year. He had died whilst awaiting a liver transplant when he contracted pneumonia and septicaemia, aged only 57.

I logged in to the uk-s scrabble mailing list to write an email regarding the '5 minute challenge' inside the magazine. This is a regular feature, containing 4 sets of 10 anagrams, the first set supposedly for beginners, increasing in difficulty and the final set for experts. I had been thinking that David (who sets the challenges) was losing the plot. David has come into scrabble with an excellent and exotic word knowledge, and definitely not what most people would call a scrabble players vocabulary. Scrabble players tend to learn words in probability order of the tiles, but David's challenges do not seem to take that into account.

(answers at the end of this post)
Group 1 contained ABGLMOU
Group 2 contained AILMPRU
Group 3, which according to David should be known by players with ratings 151-175 (n.b. I have a rating of 193) contained the following: CCEEIOR, ENRSUY and BEIIMNNR
I won't even tell you what was in group 4...

I sent my email.

I checked half an hour later to see if it had arrived and whether there had been any response.

That was when I received the dreadful news. Graeme Thomas, a former chairman of the Association of British Scrabble Players, had been involved in a fatal car accident on the early hours of the morning. There had been a severe frost, and it was thought that his car failed to take a sharp bend and hit a tree.

As with Pete earlier in the year this news has been greeted with shock, great sadness and a sense of disbelief. Emails have been coming in from around the world expressing people's sorrow and passing on condolences to Graeme's family.

Graeme was a one-off, which is saying something for an identical twin.
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With respect to Graeme, moderator of the uk-s scrabble mailing list
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As is customary on uk-s there follows a spoiler space for the quiz answers
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Graeme also had an exotic and extensive vocabulary, and was well known for berating us on our lack of education. I was wondering whether I should include the quiz in this post, but I think he would approve
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Answers:
LUMBAGO. Although a common word I would not expect the majority of low-rated players to get this.
PRIMULA. Again not an obscure word, but not high up on the probability stakes of scrabble.
CICOREE - certainly not a word on everyones lips and very low probability
SENRYU - 6-letter words are the least valuable to scrabble players and as this does not take an S would not have been learnt even as a lower-probability 7. Add to that it is an American import...
RENMINBI - enough said...

The Plant Man Cometh - part 1

On Tuesday afternoon the doorbell went, and there was the man bearing a box from J Parker. I signed for it, thought it looked a little small considering all I had ordered. I was quite right, only part of the order was inside. Unfortunately, mainly the wrong part...

The tulips, hyacynths, alliums, erythronium and campanulas were enclosed. What I really wanted to do was plant up the shrubs/perennials and then plant the alliums and tulips around them.

There were still some things I could get on with, so on Tuesday afternoon when it had warmed up a little I planted ten of the tulips into the rockery and set about the five erythronium under the buddleia. And it started to rain... Back inside. Half an hour later it stopped, so I went back out and planted the remaining twenty grape hyacynths from my Aldi packs. I also decided to plant the hyacinths in the garden rather than pots. I have a small bed that I used for summer bedding which would be ideal for them.

This afternoon I ended back up at the side of the house. I sort of knew I would. The thought of leaving those brambles until the spring was beginning to knaw away at me. Armed with my gloves, secateurs and fork I worked my way back up and round. The ground up there was covered in conifer litter, last years autumn debris of sticks and many stones, which I cleared as best I could. I pulled out/cut down as many of the brambles as I could but attempts to dig out the roots were only partially successful due to their positions and the stony ground. It was too dangerous to dig/pull too much - I did not fancy losing my balance and falling into the alley. I think that area will be a matter to control rather than tame...

After bagging up all the rubbish I decided I deserved a cup of coffee and a ciggie on my bench, enjoying the late autumn sun and views. My bench is one of my pride and joys. I had a work colleague who did wood-work as a hobby, so I commissioned him to make me my bench - oak, seats three easily and the arms are wide enough to put your coffee cup on with room to spare. It weighs an absolute ton, and hopefully will last my lifetime.

Views from my bench:





The autumn colours are really looking glorious now, but after the strong wind on Tuesday a lot have already fallen.



The river is just becoming visible again from the garden.




I decided I had time to plant some of the campanulas. On opening the packet I found roots with small shoots, and no planting instructions. I knew roughly where I had planned to plant them - around the pampas grass. I planted four, eventually deciding they should be buried rather than the shoots poking out. No idea if this is right or not, but working on the principle that they are root cuttings therefore should be underground. If anyone knows if this is wrong please tell me what I should do - the good news is that I appear to have a lot more than the six I expected, so can try again...

Weather is supposed to remain good according to the five-day forecast, so I hope the rest of my order arrives soon.

Responding to Comments

Well, the weather today is as predicted. Very strong winds. Wicker Pig made another dash for freedom, despite his ground pegs, as I was looking out the window. By the time I got my boots on to catch him he had scarpered down the bank and across the road...

I didn't actually lose too much available gardening time yesterday as we had decided to take the dogs to Duns castle grounds for their morning walk. There would have little point in starting in the garden prior to taking them. The later blog was written after I came back in when it was dark...

The size of our plot including house, garden, cowshed and back barn is about half an acre - small in comparison with most of the houses around here, but enormous compared to Sandhurst. It does not take into account the slope though, which adds quite a lot to the banks' surface area.

Responding to anonymous regarding rose pruning and insects in the garden. At the start of the year I went on a half-day course on pruning fruit trees at Floors castle, but they also covered roses and other plants. I have forgotten a lot of it. The thing I do remember re rose bushes is that they didn't have time to prune in summer/autumn, and only pruned hard in Spring after St. Georges day. I must say that your gardener seems wildly overqualified for the job - maybe that is why he charges so much :)

Fauna in and around Todheugh
I am by no means an expert on such matters, and the lists may not be complete. They only cover what we or neighbours have actually seen/heard/recognised.

Mammals:
Badgers - there was a dead one on the road to Allanton. My friend Allan at Coldingham, about 9 miles away, had some living in a waste pipe in the bank of the stream over the road from his house.
Bats - saw lots at dusk in the summer
Deer - Roe deer are becoming more common around here, and we see them quite often on our walks
Foxes - Surprisingly, considering the number of rabbits, I have only seen one early one morning up the hill from Margaret's farm
Hares - fairly common
Mice - we started the traps again in the loft last week. Count so far is 11
Moles - common. Had one in our lawn last year. Mole hills in the high bank this year.
Rabbits - ubiquitous
Rats - roadkill again
Stoats
Voles - caught some this spring. Can see the holes in the lawn and in the long bank
Weasels

Amphibians:
Toads - lots. See earlier post re Poncho and the toad
Probably frogs too, but I would find it hard to tell the difference.

Birds:
We have a good variety of birds around here as we have farmland, woodland and the river. We are also not far from the North Sea coast, can see the Cheviot hills to the south and are fairly close to the Lammermuir hills in the north. This list will definitely be missing some, despite me having my book of Scottish birds...
There are several birds of prey - buzzards, sparrowhawks, kestrels
Owls - I have only actually seen one, but you can hear them in the daytime as well as at night
Pheasants - the dumbest bird ever
Various tits (although I find it difficult to tell the difference between some of them) all come to my bird feeders -there is a definite pecking order amongst them
Robins also come to the feeders, and have been following me around as I have been digging
Swallows, swifts and house-martins - all very similar
Sparrows - food for the sparrowhawks
Blackbirds, green finches, crows/rooks, thrushes, wagtails, woodpeckers (heard)
At the river kingfishers (seen by neighbours), ducks and herons

Insects:
Bees - various. Iona and Hedley keep bee hives. They were feasting on the clover in our lawn this summer
Beetles - various unknowns
Butterflies - glorious year for them. Cannot identify them all but orange-tips, common white, tortoise-shell and red admirals
Centipedes - don't know what they actually are, but black and squiggly ones all over the blackberries at the end of September
Earthworms - enormous great big juicy ones
Earwigs
Flies - various. Plagued by them on our walks on still warm days this summer. Was enthralling watching the swallows catching them.
Ladybirds
Midges - but not as bad as further north
Moths - lots. Probably why so many bats...
Slugs - all 3 British natives: white, brown and black
Snails - but not as bad as Sandhurst
Spiders - seen more in the house than outside, but when there was a heavy dew the whole of the high-bank was covered in webs. A lot of small white ones on the elderberries.
Wasps - had a nest in the lawn
Woodlice

What has been more of note is what we haven't got that plagued me down south.
Roses are amazingly bug-free. May account for not having ants too. In Sandhurst my roses where covered in aphids/greenfly, and ants nests underneath farming them.
Lupins - not a woolly-aphid in sight
Lilies - apparently lily-beetles not made it here yet either

Autumn Gardening

A week last Friday I was browsing a plant catalogue from J.Parker when I noticed they had a website. I logged in and began browsing in earnest - before I knew it I had started adding stuff to my basket. They hook you with some excellent offers - 12 mixed hyacinths for £1.95, 5 Starfighter lilies for £1.75, 25 Allium Purple Sensation for £2.45. In they went. I had clocked up the first free gift of 6 Campanula Glomerata Superba the moment the first plant hit the basket. Next target - spend £40.00 and get 30 free Apricot Beauty tulips - well, that shouldn't be too much of a challenge. In went the blue Himalayan poppies - should love it in the left hand side of the high bank. Next came the pack of 6 Japanese anemones - I had already planted some of these last year (a gift from Janet), but only 2 had survived from the weed attack. Tricyrtis Hirta - now they look interesting, lily-like flowers, white covered with red splotches, and they like shade - will be great at the top of the high bank. Ooh - a collection of double paeonies - buy 4 and get 2 free. I'm sure I'll find somewhere for them. A pack of 6 mixed Tradescantia - they like wet or dry soil, sun or part shade so will be ideal for my garden. Lastly a pack of 5 Erythronium Dens Canis - Dog's Tooth violets - for under the buddleia in the long bank. Proceed to checkout. Total £58.75, savings £39.50.

Now all I have to do is get the garden ready for them.

I still had the 2 packs of bulbs and pots from Aldi to sort out. There was no way I was going to cram 50 bulbs into those small pots, but they would be fine for the hyacinths. I set about clearing out the weeds from the 3 tubs along the edge of the lawn - I thought I may be able to put some bulbs in them but found they were already pretty well bulbed up. I topped up the compost level, re-located a mint plant to a separate pot and planted the crocuses from the packs around it. I replaced the mint with a small pot of chives I had brought up from Sandhurst.

As a separate project I had also bought 2 packs each containing 3 climbers from Aldi several weeks ago - an absolute bargain at £3.99 per pack. I had 4 clematis, a solanum and a jasmine still waiting to find a home. I had plans to plant them along the other side of the drive to the long bank rockery. There is trellis up already, with the garden sheds on the other side. I managed to clear enough to plant 3 of the clematis last Wednesday before darkness and rain forced me to stop.





The next job was to clear the small area along the side of the rose-bed area. There are a few plants self-seeded into this narrow patch, but mainly the lawn, clover, docks and thistles seem to want to claim it as their own. I planted the sparaxia, puschkinia and allium moly from the bulb packs in here. I still need to weed the rose-bed itself...







Moving on to clearing the debris from under the buddleia. The alchemillas (Lady's mantle) had taken over under here. I remember when I first arrived up here being very pleased on finding these in the garden. A short walk over the road and down to the river soon showed me that they were growing everywhere here, as are geraniums which I love. Now, why couldn't they have invaded. I also started clearing out some of my annuals from the small beds I had made along the bottom of the bank.


Yesterday I was back to the high bank. There was a very weak small potentilla in there which was doing nothing - that needed to be pulled out. Also a few branches on a shrub (no idea what it is) slightly higher up that were growing outwards instead of upwards that were ready for the chop. This would clear quite a large area ready for planting. Those jobs done and back up with a rubbish sack to remove the debris (mainly moss and twigs) and a fork to dig it over. It was nowhere near as muddy as I had expected, and surprisingly not as stony as other areas. I found more autumn crocuses and snowdrops up there as I dug it over, and these were relocated to under the shrubs. I planted my last clematis just below the shrub - hopefully it will grow up into it. Feeling pleased with how well this went I carried on around the front of the pampas grass. Then I got over-ambitious. The high bank continues around to the side of the house - there is actually a small alley between the house and the bank that houses the dustbins from before the council switched to wheelie bins. I had never made it round that far in all the time we have been here - finding a route had not been possible before, but now that I had cleared the pampas grass and brambles I could see a way up. Off I set with my loppers, gloves and fork. Firstly to chop the dead and annoying branches off of yet another buddleia. Now I could make it to the bottom of the conifers. Next chop off some of the lower branches of those so that I can work my way past them to get to the side. I was greeted by another giant hogweed, but on its last legs for this year. I could get past that okay - to get to another forest of nettles... and another of brambles... I pulled out as many of the nettles as I could, throwing them down into the alley. I hadn't the heart or the time to start on the brambles. That job can wait until everything else has been done.
On bagging up the rubbish I rediscovered my wicker pig hiding in the alley. He is looking a little worse for wear (needs some new wicker I think), but I decided to give him his freedom. He was locked up before because he kept blowing away, but I had found some ground pegs, so hopefully he is now going to behave.




Today I moved back to the rockery end of the long bank. There were loads of linaria purpurea (I think) all over it. These could go. They will seed back in unless I clear the whole bank, but that will be fine once what I want growing there is established. I hadn't realised quite how many of them there were - I filled a sack and a half. The last job of the day was to dig out the old lupin - this also had self-seeded, and I had already transplanted the seedlings at intervals along the top edge of the bank.

Having looked at the 5-day weather forecast I will probably get a day off tomorrow - strong wind, but nowhere near as bad as the earlier predicted 40 m.p.h. It does seem to improve as the week goes on, but the temperature is now dropping. I just hope my plants arrive in the next few days...

Country Living

Back in Sandhurst, although we lived in a small cul-de-sac, we only knew about half the other people in the street, and out of those we were only really friendly with our immediate neighbours on one side. When we bought our house up here we made an effort to go round to all the other houses in the immediate neighbourhood that we knew about to introduce ourselves. We discovered there were a few more houses we hadn't known about when Ray and Janet, from the bungalow further up the hill on the other side of the river, stopped when they were passing to say hello. People wave when they go past in cars - and occasionally even complete strangers have stopped for a chat when they have seen the dogs. It is amazing how many people used to own greyhounds, whippets or just used to go to dog races.

Ray and Janet have been very good to me and my garden, a steady supplier of plants from when we first moved up here for good. Frequently when we walk past with the dogs they are waiting for us on our way back for a chat and to enquire whether I would like some x for my garden. We have also been provided with rhubarb and apples.

We have become good friends with Anne and Neil from 'the big house'. They now keep chickens, and we have had a good supply of eggs. We have also shared some gardening catalogues, which means we have taken advantage of the special offers and postage savings. Anne lent me her jam pan which meant that I didn't have Paul standing over me worrying about spilling sugary goo onto his hob for my last couple of batches of jam/jelly. Paul has set up their website for them - they are hoping to holiday-let their renovated basement flat - www.blanernehouse.com

We often see old John and Mary, who own a farm at Edrom, when we are out and about. They sell their own potatoes and Paul went and bought a couple of stones (imperial measurement - not small rocks) at the end of last week. We also got given another bag of apples. We should not need to buy any for quite a while now as long as they keep okay.

My main part in the community spirit has been distributing jars of jam - although I still have enough to keep us supplied until next autumn! I have also been seed collecting from my garden and should have a quite a few packets to give away. It was a particularly good year for giant poppies - all the better as they were self-sown and just sprouted up in all the areas I had cleared along the bottom of the long bank.

Well, I'd better get back out to the garden now. This looks like it might be the last good day for a while now, and I want to be ready when the new plants I have ordered arrive...

Long Bank

I was busy with my camera yesterday. We have been here for just over a year now, and there is no comparison with the state of the garden now to when we moved up here after six months of neglect. My job now is to try to keep it under control, and begin to replace the plants that I don't like or I do not think are 'right'. I think that large evergreen (possibly an aucuba) will be going...

This is the main 'rockery' area that has been completely planted up with spring bulbs...


















Continuing on from the photinia ...


















On to the end section where I have planted mainly grape-hyacynths and narcissi between the saxifrages. You can see the bank of red-hot pokers - these marked the end of the garden for the previous owners. However, we also bought the cowshed which can be seen at the end of the house, and the barn behind it. We have now been granted planning permission to knock it down and build an extension...


I am actually growing plant labels...

















Buddleia after major surgery. The shrubs underneath can now actually be seen. I will be underplanting with some dog-tooth violets...

High Bank

Joy! I finished weeding the high bank yesterday. I was foolish to think it was only another days work. In order to finish off pruning/culling the honeysuckle I decided the easiest way to reach it was to go round the back. As I ascended I was met with yet another thicket of brambles and nettles - Sleeping Beauty had nothing on my garden...

I decided to tackle the problem from basics, and continued climbing up to Margaret's barn at the back. Session one I removed all the brambles from along the back and between the conifers. Session two I started clearing those in front of the conifers and discovered two berberises, a forsythia and a rhododendron. We then had two days of steady rain...

Yesterday afternoon, with some trepidation, I set off back up the bank armed with my loppers, secateurs, gloves and rubbish bag. It was like climbing a mud bank, but with various shrubs to hang on to for purchase I got there. Yet another buddleia to attack, and the rhododendron can now see the light of day. I then had to gingerly start working my way down towards the honeysuckle, pulling out nettles and as much of the root system as I could from the mud, without sliding a***-about-t** down to the bottom. It then started to rain again...

Had a break to walk the dogs, and the rain stopped. I went straight back out on return - it would have been far too easy just to call it a day but I was so close. I had left the loppers up there, so it was slightly easier to get back up. I managed to work my way to the telegraph pole and this gave me a good footing.


Also from here I could actually throw the weeds and prunings onto the lawn, rather than have to try to pack them into the rubbish sack. Attempts to throw stuff from higher up had generally resulted in me having to do a scavenger hunt to retrieve all of the bundles that ended up lodged in various shrubs half-way down.

The honeysuckle after the war...

Autumn is here

Paul is away in Peebles playing bridge, so I am alone with the dogs.

It is glorious autumn day - blue skies, sun shining and hardly a breath of wind. I decided to take the dogs for a morning amble rather than walk, as I was not having to keep up with my pace setter. I think this threw Jen into confusion, as for once I was happy to let her sniff and swap sides, and just stand looking at the views whilst waiting for her to be ready to continue on to the next interesting place. Poncho also behaved himself, which makes for a much more pleasant outing.

It was so lovely that I got my camera and went back out to take some photos...

Normal service resumed

Last week my laptop decided it was not going to start up from hibernation mode. Luckily it was still under extended warranty so Paul arranged for it to be sent back. I was out in the garden completing the bulb planting when the DHL van pulled up. I thought it was very good service as it was only a couple of hours since Paul had phoned, only to find out the driver was actually looking for our neighbour's house up the hill. He reappeared at about the same time the following day to collect the laptop...and I got it back this afternoon.

I completed the bulb planting in the long bank at about 6 p.m. on Thursday. It should look glorious if they all survive and thrive. I also pruned the buddleias, but not to the extent that Colin would have liked.

I started on the high bank on Friday - buddleia pruning again, along with nettle and bramble clearing. In the afternoon I went over to Anne's to pick some more elderberries. I spent the evening removing the berries from their stalks.

On Saturday morning Jean phoned to ask if I wanted to go over to pick bullaces (small plums). After getting directions I donned a thick jumper, packed my wellies and barber into Paul's car, and set off. I missed the entrance to the farm but quickly realised I had gone too far and found it no problem on the second attempt.

Jean and I set off with her two dogs to the field with the bullaces. Jean was not amused to find that someone had already picked a lot of them. This was part of her farm land and not exactly on the beaten track, and a little detective work showed horse hoof prints... However, we were more intrepid than the thieves and climbed over the fence to get to the ones at the back, and finished up with a couple of pounds. We wandered back to the farm and then headed off in the jeep to another field to pick sloes. We actually had less luck with these as the trees were fairly sparse. We were just giving up when Jean spotted a well-loaded tree and I braved the gorse bushes to get to it, adding significantly to take our total to three quarters of a pound. Should be enough to make some sloe gin.

On the way back to the farm we passed an apple tree that Jean thought was not too good, but we decided to pick a couple to try them. They were lovely - juicy and slightly tart. Jean backed the jeep up to the tree and we stood on the back to pick a couple of bucketfuls.

After a coffee I set off back home loaded down with the spoils of the morning.

The weather had improved and in the afternoon I got back out into the garden. Next on the to-do list was to tidy up the pampas grass as I could now actually get to it. I don't think the dead leaves/fronds??? or old canes have ever been removed. Once this had been done I could get around the back to pull out the brambles and dig out the roots.

We had been kindly invited to a cheese and wine evening by Chris and Maggie at Preston - friends of friends who knew we were fairly new to the area. We had a very pleasant evening, and actually did know some other people there from the Berwickshire bridge tournament earlier in the year.

Sunday was another high-bank gardening day, and I scaled new heights right up to the top. I had spotted something blue back there. After filling five sacks with nettles (these must have been about three metres high) and more brambles I eventually discovered a patch of aconites, and a giant hogweed that I very cautiously skirted. That will be a job for chemical warfare in the spring. I was hoping to be able to exit around the side of Margaret's barn at the top of the bank, but discovered the path along the side was also filled with nettles and hogweeds, so there was nothing for it but having to scramble back down, pushing the rubbish sacks, loppers etc down in front of me.

In the evening Paul and I went over to Anne's for drinks and to play pool and table football. I am pleased that my mis-spent youth came flooding back to me and I was undefeated on the pool table.

I resumed on the high bank again today - pruning the honeysuckle after what appears to have been several years of neglect. I filled another five sacks with dead wood, and must have gained about another metre of garden from underneath it. I even found two old birds nests in the middle of it. I still need to get around the sides and back - I have spotted some more giant nettles. Tomorrows weather is supposed to be good again, so I am hoping to complete the weeding and may actually get to fill some of the new gaps with plants...

Bulbs, bulbs and more bulbs...

The bulbs I had ordered duly arrived on the afternoon of my birthday - mainly alliums, crocuses and narcissi. 185 bulbs...
Anne and Neil came round shortly afterwards with the bulbs I had ordered from her catalog - more narcissi, crocuses and dwarf irises. 140 bulbs...
I had also bought narcissi, scillas and grape hyacinths from Aldi. At 99p a pack I couldn't resist - another 100 bulbs. And that isn't counting the two packs I bought with planters...

My main spring area is the long bank at the drive end. I had already planted dwarf rhododendrons, azaleas and gentians, and transplanted a couple of large clumps of snowdrops from the high bank earlier in the year. Having weeded it a couple of weeks ago I thought I should be up and running. No such luck. With the rain and sunshine we have been having the weeds had already started to come back. Forget-me-nots appear to have taken over from the buttercups of last year. Still, it was nowhere near as bad and I set about my task with great gusto.

With each little area cleared of weeds I have to decide what combination of bulbs to plant. I try to plant in groups of five or seven. Once decided, in went the bulb-planter only to hit stones/rocks in two out of three 'holes'. Once the stones were removed to allow me to create a hole of the correct depth I then had to remove the stones at the bottom of the holes. Paul doesn't seem to understand the design aspect of gardening, and why it is taking so long...

On a different note Paul and I went to a quiz night with Jean (bridge player) and her husband Sandy at Preston village hall last night. It was 'take your own food and drink' and half way through the quiz there was an auction to raise funds for the hall. It was really good fun, and somehow we managed to win...mainly due to Paul displaying his lateral thinking skills in the dingbats round. We got home quite late, to discover that Poncho (I am guessing) had decided that my Jellybean jigsaw puzzle that my sister had bought me for my birthday may actually contain jelly-beans. The box had been ripped open as had the plastic bag containing the pieces that were scattered around the sitting room floor...

I was not expecting to be able to continue in the garden today as the weather forecast had not been good. It had rained quite heavily in the early hours, but when I got up the sun was shining. Paul volunteered to walk the dogs on his own so that I could get back to it.

I cleared the section at the top of the drive of mouse-eared hawkweed (according to my book of Scottish Wild Flowers (aka weeds)). The soil up there was very clayey and, as per everywhere, extremely stony. I planted up the hostas, astilbe, solomons seal and elephants ears that Maureen had brought down in July. The camassia bulbs went in here - need heavier moisture-retentive soil. That completed that section of the bank - about 200 bulbs, mainly crocuses, dwarf irises and narcissi, with a couple of groups of rockery tulips and scillas.

We were thinking about going to a craft fair at Paxton house this afternoon, but as the weather was still good I decided to keep going. I upped sticks to the house end of the bank. This area of the bank is mainly covered in saxifrages. I had already decided that I wanted to plant the grape hyacinths in between these. I also planted one group of tulips and one of narcissi. Another 50 bulbs down.

I decided to continue weeding the last couple of metres that I had not completed on the previous pass. I filled two sacks with weeds before the rain came down forcing me to stop for the day.

So after 3 days I still have about 200 bulbs to go, but I am on the homeward stretch now...

Middle Age

According to Paul's financial plan for the rest of our lives I became middle-aged today.
Strange, but I don't feel any different to yesterday.

For once Paul picked up on a hint. Maybe hint is not strong enough a description. "Ooooh. A Matter Of Life and Death is now available on DVD" seemed to do the trick.

I haven't been blogging lately for several reasons.
1) Weather has been quite good so I have been clearing the long bank again ready for bulb planting. Still got a couple of metres at the house end to complete, but it is looking quite good again. Got a lot of very cheap bulbs from Aldi last week, and am also expecting the ones I sent away for from Avon bulbs to arrive today or tomorrow.
2) New anagram quiz program download, anahack, from http://sooreams.com/anahack/
3) Still jam making - went brambling again yesterday. Probably last chance this year as they are starting to go over now - saw a good quote on a recipe site "The devil pisses on them at the end of September" . Managed to get about 4 pounds.
4) Been addicted to stumbling: http://scrabble-hels.stumbleupon.com/
5) From stumbling discovered http://www.youtube.com/
I know I am probably years behind the rest of you, but hey, I never had the time before...

Gonna go now and enjoy the rest of my birthday, eating cookies, chocolate and going out for a meal tonight :)

Elderberry and Bramble jam

Spurred on by my earlier success I decided to experiment further. My neighbours have rallied to my request for jars, and I have now built up quite a stock.

There was an elder tree just the other side of the bridge dripping with ripe berries. I decided this must belong to Iona and Hedley who live in the house on the other side of the river to us and went to ask if they wanted the berries. On arriving there I was greeted by Iona's mother - Iona had been taken to hospital and she was expecting news of imminient third grandchild. She thought it would be fine to pick the berries as they would have other things to worry about.

On our 4 p.m. walk Hedley was driving back and stopped to let us know that Iona had had another boy, Wilfred, at lunch time and both were doing fine. I could pick as many berries as I liked...

After the walk I wandered over and picked about half a carrier bag full. I spent the evening removing the berries from their stalks with a fork, and ended up with about two and a half pounds.

I went brambling the next morning down the path to the field opposite our neighbour Margaret. I got about two pounds in about half an hour - they are so abundant. The recipe I had seen suggested equal amounts of elderberries and blackberries so I got another half a pound from the patch at the bottom of our drive.

I was all set after lunch to go. This was when I realised there was a major problem. I still don't have a jam pan, and was using a large saucepan. However, the saucepan was not large enough for the volume of fruit I had picked! I decided to process the elderberries first, and just extract the juice. I then measured how much I had - a pint and a half. Okay- reduce the recipe by about a third. I used one pint of juice and added a pound and three quarters of blackberries. Quickly calculated I needed about 3 pounds of sugar - recipes vary between three quarters and a pound of sugar per pound of fruit. The pan was still very full, and although I was trying to be very careful it still boiled over at one point. But it eventually reached the setting point, and I was fully prepared this time with jars ready. I got about four and a half pounds of jam this time.

I tried some today - it has a very distinctive strong flavour, presumably from the elderberries, and is a lovely deep red colour. It should last a long time as you don't need to use much to get the taste. The rosehip and apple has a much subtler flavour, and is a lovely orange colour - although Paul described it as vibrant.

I may use the spare juice with crab apples next...

Rose Hip and Apple Jelly

On our many walks around the neighbourhood with the dogs I couldn't help noticing the great free crops available in the hedgerows - abundances of blackberries, elderberries, crab apples and rose hips.

I have already been brambling - blackberry and apple crumble...

Today I was more adventurous, having found many recipes for rose hip jelly. There was a dog rose covered in them right over the road from my house. Off I trotted, and got the best part of a pound and a half. Completed the 2 pounds from a bush just up the hill from us. Realised I needed lemon juice for the recipe so drove into Duns. Couldn't decide on whether to use fresh lemons or just buy juice so got both. As it was, the juice of one and a half lemons was enough. Already had some cooking apples - a couple left over from the crumble and half a dozen from some kindly soul in Duns who had left a 'help-yourself' boxful outside their gate. Only other ingredient needed was sugar - and I had bought some jam sugar the last time we were in Berwick.

Now for the hard work. It took me over an hour and a half to wash, top/tail and chop up two pounds of rose hips. Added 2 pints of boiling water and simmered until the rose hips very soft. Sieved the whole caboodle to just get the juice/puree.
Chopped up apples - I used about a pound and three quarters before coring/peeling, and cooked in a little water until very soft. Pushed through sieve into rose hip juice.
Added about 3 fluid ounces lemon juice and one and a quarter pounds of sugar.
Boil/stir. Keep boiling/stirring. Tested after about 15 minutes - no sign of setting. Kept boiling/stirring. Turned up heat and boiled/stirred hard. Eventually it began to show signs of setting.

Poured into sterilised jam jars - my cousin Maureen suggested a good way to sterilise jars is to heat them in the oven to 100 degrees C. Cover top of jam with those little waxed discs you can buy. Wait until completely cooled before putting cellophane tops on.

Well, that is the first time I have ever made jam/jelly - about two and a half pounds in the end. I am already planning my next project...

Lessons learnt:
Be more organised.
May be better to mash rose hips with potato masher before sieving to get the most from them.
May be better to soften apples in a little of the rose hip juice rather than more water - should reduce time required to boil.
Boiling means boiling - not simmer/boil but really boil the hell out of it.
It is damned hard work sieving apple puree...

Many thanks go to Paul for assisting in getting the jars out of the oven at the critical moment , placement of little wax discs and cleaning up all the mess I had made.

p.s. We have now tried it on toast and it is very good...

Bangalore here I come and other scrabble stuff

I have booked my flights for the 3rd international iGate tournament in Bangalore 12-14th January next year - http://www.bangalorescrabble.com/

My friend Radhika has said she will help me sort out accommodation for the trip. I am planning to make a short holiday around the tourney to allow me to actually get to see something of Bangalore other than the scrabble venue. I am really looking forward to it already.

My performance at the BMSC rated at 195, keeping my actual rating at 193. This currently gives me the 2nd qualifying place for Scotland.

Allan Simmons (another top player in Scotland) and I started a best of 25 match earlier this year, with a bottle of wine the prize for the winner. We have had quite a large break since starting the match due to Allan's work and family commitments. Match is resuming today with me 5-1 ahead.

BMSC Report

The real event started at 2 p.m. on the Saturday.

Game 1: Ray Tate. W +114
Ray got a bonus on move 2, but with some steady scores of 30+ I got back to level the scores, and moved ahead with CHASTER immediately followed by UNPOETIC onto the C I had just played.

Game 2: Brett Smitheram. L -74
It was unlucky to get drawn to play Brett on game 2. He is one of the major threats for winning the title, and you would not expect this match until later into the tournament. The game started like a rocket. Brett opened with BOOZE for 38, giving me the E I required to change a dreadful rack into ULTRARED for 60. Brett replied with BUSHIDOS from the B, and I hit back with OBLIQUES around the L. Unfortunately I picked 6 vowels from the bag and could only respond to his 45 point play with ADIEU around a D for 14. I slipped to 40 points behind, but slotted in TITANATE around an A to take a 30 point lead. Brett soon bonused back followed by a play for 50 to seal the win.

Game 3: Lynne Murphy. W +151
This game started slowly, with me having to change on move 4, only having scored 87 after 5 moves. I then slotted in EPACRID for 85 to take a healthy lead. Very pleased to spot an 8 onto an A with AGLRSTU on my rack - had been on the verge of dumping LUG when GASTRULA leapt into my head, scoring 80. Followed up with a 52 and 45 point play to make a big win.

Game 4: Di Dennis. W +69
Di started with OKA, and with a consonant heavy rack I played VIAL around the A. Di then played VIOLD under OKA around my L, and the board was already blocked after 3 moves! I changed, and Di played SILEX for 40. Things were already not looking good for me - Di is excellent at blocking the board to maintain her advantage. However, I slowly started pegging her back, getting a triple hooking an E onto ALGA, and then another hooking a C onto DARI. I then made half an opening with BUMP to allow a word to be played hooking above or below the B. I was rewarded by picking a blank, and managed to play LIGNITE. Di immediately bingoed back for 80 to resume a 60 point advantage. However, I had a 39 point response and then got BRADOONS down around an A to take the lead and run for the line.

Game 5: Mike Whiteoak W +142
I opened with a bonus, TENOURS and continued to score steadily, getting ANNALISE on move 5 to take a stranglehold on the game. Played TITANATE yet again near the end of the game, killing the place where Mike could have played SIDEREAL onto an L.

Game 6: Barry Grossman L -95
Barry is one of my bogey players - although the last time we played he let me off the hook when he didn't spot the B hook onto EGAD to win the game. I was not so fortunate this time around. Barry bonused on moves 2 and 4, and with 2 other 40+ plays on moves 3 and 6 I was really struggling. I was 125 points down when I had a glimmer of hope as I turned over a blank, to be immediately dashed when I turned over the second blank as the next tile. I realistically needed 2 bonuses to win the game, and scoring 89 for SARCOMAS onto a triple was not going to be enough. Barry hit back immediately with a 42-point X play - game over.

So end of day 1, and I was 4-2 up. Still in with a chance, with only one player on 6-0, and quite a few on 5-1. My spread was okay at over +300. I was getting superstitious about players whose names started with B...

Game 7: Gary Polhill L -47
Gary started well and kept on going. Near the end I managed to narrow the spread, choosing to play DREARING onto a G for 80 and emptying the bag. Gary had EFLLSTU on his rack, and I was ruing not playing RANDIER hooking the last 3 tiles above StE... Gary had seen FULLEST but did not see the possibility of playing it, and just played FULL elsewhere.
I was now getting a phobia about players whose names rhymed with ARRY. I was temporarily back in the pack with a 4-3 record.

Game 8: Amy Byrne W +230
This was my biggest win of the whole tourney and my highest game score - 572. Amy is a lovely lady, but there is no room for compassion in serious competition.
It did not start well on my first rack - 5 vowels with ST, but starting first is a free go so I changed, keeping SATE and was rewarded with a dream pick of ILR. LITERALS off of Amy's opener onto the triple immediately followed by SALICINE across to the next triple. 4 more scores averaging over 37. Amy changed and I dumped LU tiles to balance my rack. Amy made an opening, and I got the easy REDEALS parallel on the triple for 92, followed by 4 more scores averaging 32.

Game 9: Margaret Staunton W +88
This game started slowly for both of us. I was concentrating on scoring reasonably but keeping my racks balanced, eking out a 50 point lead. Margaret tried SAUTIER which was quickly challenged off - SATIRE+U makes no 7. I then opened a triple for 30 points to tempt her to break up the SATIRE stem, knowing with 1-point tiles she could not score much and the ploy worked when she took it with AITU. I then had a seriously stupid moment when I played COENURIS off a C (URINOSE didn't fit anywhere), so lost a turn (COENURUS/COENURI are fine). Luckily she didn't block it so I got down COINSURE the next turn - didn't really want to play it as it ended one short of a double word, and I knew she had an S. I managed to capitalise on it 2 moves later with CATTIES for 98. Margaret spotted a great outplay from AAINRS? - rather than a face value 7 she played TSARINAS from a T, hooking the first S to the front of HA for 80.

Half way through the tourney and I am now back in the chase at 6-3.

Game 10: Ross MacKenzie W +148
This was an embarrassment of simple bonuses on my part - RETAILS, URALITES and RAIDERS.

Game 11: Christian Brown L -62
If Christian can keep up his level of play that he achieved in this game against me then he will be a player to watch in the future. An early bonus of BEDESMEN by Christian saw him take a 70 point lead, followed by another bonus. I pegged it back to only a 34 point deficit with HARPOON, but he immediately hit me with SACRARIA onto the A to be 100 behind yet again. I managed to claw some of it back, to narrow the spread.

Game 12: Anne Ramsay W +77
I bingoed on move 3 with TOUGHEN. Anne bonused back on move 6, but was still 26 behind. A good score each, and then I got GENITORS off a G for 80. Near the end being 100 points ahead I tried ERINITIC onto a C ( lots of ITE words can also be ITIC words), but this came off the board.

Game 13: Nick Deller W +96
I had set myself the target of 9 wins by the end of day 2, so I needed to win this one. I started with a couple of 30+ moves and got bingoes down on moves 4, 6 and 10, including ANTIAIR. I haven't noted what the other 2 were on my scorepad, and I have a dreadful memory - once a game has finished it normally gets banished to the underworld unless there was something of special note.

End of day 2 and target achieved. A good spread meant that I was top of the group on 9.

Game 14: Ed Martin W +13
Balanced on rack 1 and rewarded with DISHIER on rack 2 for 84. Ed bonused on move 3 after changing on the previous go, catching me up by move 5. My brain went to mush in this game, and I missed loads of bonuses on move 6. Of all the ones I spotted none went on the board, and I went into panic mode, losing loads of time before deciding to block the 9-timer Ed had just opened. My rack deteriorated and the game became a war of attrition, with the board becoming more and more blocked. Ed eventually made half an opening and I was able to play GROTTOES from the open G to go 93 in the lead. Ed made another opening, and after looking at what was left in the bag decided to optimise my score rather than block. I couldn't see a bonus onto the triple, so didn't think any other potential bonus would score enough. This was the correct strategy as Ed played out with PROJECT that had two places to play.

Game 15: Shane ONeill W +116
Shane made a mistake early on in this game, trying AMPUTING onto a G. I challenged it off. On his next move he played off TAMP, keeping UNI which is not a good leave. His rack did not recover from this. I kept scoring steadily, passing up a bonus of DOZIEST for 75 points using a blank, and played just ZED for 43. I was rewarded with RESORTS on the next move. Now that I was well in the lead I concentrated on turning over tiles, playing a series of reasonably good scoring 5 letter words to empty the bag as quickly as possible. When Shane eventually got a face value bonus down he was still 100 points adrift.

Game 16: Theresa Camilleri W +24
Theresa was posing the greatest threat of the other female players of finishing ahead of me. We were level on games but my spread was superior to hers. I started with a rack of AEEEDRS, and decided to just exchange an E. I drew a C and played CREASED on move 2. Theresa hit back with RECIPES to retake the lead. We exchanged 30+ scores on move 3, Theresa blocking the R I needed for MAROONED, but setting up the alternative 4-timer of ENAMORED for 44, keeping an O on my rack. I picked 3 further Os and was forced to change, keeping ET. I then picked IIIFX. Theresa bonused opening a triple, allowing me to play FIXED for 51. I picked another I, but was luckily able to play TIDILY around an L onto a triple for 33 to rebalance the rack. We were level pegging when she played MOUTH to go 33 ahead. I let out a sigh of relief as she hadn't blocked my play of UNVEILS for 86 to take the last 4 from the bag. ANNN - no single outplay but I could score enough for a safe win.

Game 17: Andrew Perry W +37
I was now leading the field, with Andrew Perry the only other player also on 12 wins but with a lower spread. Andrew bonused on move 2 but I had a 45 point reply. I gained ground until Andrew bonused again on move 5, going 80 ahead. I bonused on move 7 with GROUPIES around an R, but Andrew score 45 onto the triple I opened to still be 88 ahead. On his next move he gave me a floating N and I pounced on it with HANDLIST for 62. I am now 30 behind. Andrew took a long time on the next move and eventually played INDRI, opening up a triple. With a rack of AABILQT I played QIBLA onto the triple for 48, taking the last 4 tiles from the bag and a 2 point lead. AEILNRT was looking up at me, with an O at the top of the board for ORIENTAL. Andrew took a long time blocking it for 32 points. I still had about 9 minutes on my clock and it took me 6 of them to realise there was an I available for an 8, needing to hook the first letter under an S. Down went INERTIAL for a miracle win.

Game 18: Brett Smitheram
The last game was 'king-of-the-hill', the player leading playing the player in 2nd etc. I was a win ahead of Brett but his spread was better than mine so I needed to win to become the British champion.
I bonused on move 2 with INFARES, with Brett responding in kind on move 4 with OXIDATED. I took the triple off he opened for 39 so scores were just about level again. He dumped tiles with DOITIT which gave me the I I needed for ROSELIKE to take a 50 point lead. My rack deteriorated after that with a series of 1-pointer vowel heavy sets (needed an R for NEURONAL on one rack, but no joy) and Brett's scores of 36, 46 and then a bonus for 70 saw him take a 34 point lead. He obviously got a consonant heavy pickup from his next play as I narrowed the gap to 19, but he then extended it to 49. We were running out of tiles and I needed to make another opening. Looking at what was in the bag and from a rack of AAEGLNN I dumped off AN to make NAG and open up a 9-timer with N in position 2, and was partially rewarded with a pick up of ET for the 9-timer ENTANGLE. There was a very good chance that Brett could/would not block the N (AEEIICQVW? unseen from my point of view) as there was also a position to play an 8 from an H and a semi-open Z. Also he may just dump an I in front of it, allowing me to play INELEGANT. Unfortunately for me he had the tiles to play ANEW, and picked an I and the last blank from the bag. If I had picked the I and blank rather than ET the game would have been mine, with bonuses available from both the N and H. Some things were just not meant to be.

I lost by 46, and the title went to Brett for the 3rd time in 4 years. This is the 3rd major tournament that I have lost to Brett on spread - one other BMSC and one Masters title.

He is a worthy champion and I was pleased in the end to hold onto 2nd place. Victory was so close though that I could almost taste it. Theresa finished in third, also on 13 wins but well behind me on spread. Brian Sugar sneaked into 4th place, after starting badly and then easing himself steadily up the table. Di Dennis finished 5th. It is great that 3 women finished in the top 5.

Pre BMSC report

It was the British Matchplay Scrabble Championship this weekend. There is always a pre-event Ladies tournament and now also a Mens. Six games - 3 Friday evening starting at 7.30 p.m. and 3 Saturday morning.

I was ready as arranged to travel down to Yarnfield with Allan, who was directing the pre-events, on Friday at 11 a.m. when the phone went. Allan was running late. He arrived to pick me up at midday, his car loaded high with boxes of scoresheets, computer... We just about managed to fit in my bag and set.

We decided to drive across to Carlisle via Hawick. It was a very pleasant route, but slow and we got to the M6 after about 2 hours. We had a short break in the first service station we reached and then continued on. The traffic was dreadful and at 5 p.m. whilst stuck in yet another jam Allan phoned ahead to say we were still 5 junctions away. Luckily the traffic cleared, and we arrived after about another hour.

I left Allan to get everything set up and went and chilled out in my room for a while. I later wandered over to help 'running' for the ladies event. This involves collecting any challenges and taking them to the adjudicator for checking. I have only 'run' in round-robin events before, where a player sits out one round and just 'runs' for the rest of their section. I now have great respect for the runners who do this for the whole of an event - it is very tiring.

Margaret Bailey, the wife of one of the players in the Mens, was covering the back of our room. Natasha Pratesi, the 8 year-old daughter of Mauro (who operates the computer) and Diane (a player), and sister of Jessica, who was also playing, was covering the front. I was attempting to cover the middle. At times I felt somewhat redundant in this task, as Natasha was treating running as a competition in its own right. Several times as I begun to set off she came racing past me. Tongues were stuck out if she got to the challenge slip before I did :)

I must admit to copping out of the last round on the Friday evening, and retiring down to the bar with a large glass of red wine.

Di Dennis won the Ladies event and Christian Brown the Mens, each with a perfect record of 6 out of 6.

Weekend Away

My second cousin Ewan got married on Friday. Paul has managed to miss nearly all of my extended family's weddings, and this was no different. He had already arranged to play bridge with his brother in the Brighton congress yonks ago. This meant that we needed to arrange for the dogs to be looked after for the weekend.

Luckily for us Sonia (from the greyhound rescue centre) was happy and willing to have them back for a few days. We took them to her on the Thursday evening. It felt very strange not having them here - this is the first time we were both going to be away since we adopted them at the end of January.

I dropped Paul off at Berwick-Upon-Tweed railway station at just before 9.45 on the Friday, and then headed on to Dumbarton where I was staying with my cousin Colin and Maureen. The detour to the station meant that I got caught by all the roadworks between Berwick and Grantshouse, where I normally join the A1. Not to worry, I arrived at Colin's house only half an hour later than I had estimated, and still with plenty of time.

We all got done up in our glad-rags and set off to Glasgow university chapel where the service was taking place. The Great Western road was very busy, and after a minor panic about actually finding the place we arrived about 10 minutes before the kick-off time. (Quite a few other people were not as lucky). As it was I could not see a free place to sit on the groom's side of the church, so was happy to sit at the back facing the altar - this was actually a good move as I had an excellent view without having to crick my neck.


The reception was held in the student's union building which was a fair walk in the rain for my 86-year old aunty Margaret, but she coped amazingly well.

There was a ceilidh after the meal - I have learned from bitter experience to avoid my second cousin Calum at such affairs to ensure that I do not end up battered and bruised. Everybody had a good time, and for once I remembered to switch to drinking water nearer the end of the night/early morning. We got home about 2 a.m.

I stayed on an extra day at Colin and Maureen's.

Colin is a volunteer helping to restore the Maid of the Loch ( http://www.maidoftheloch.co.uk/ ), the last paddle steamer built in Britain, and he set off later than usual on Saturday morning to work. Maureen and I decided to go for a walk when the weather improved a little, and then Maureen suggested we get the bus to Balloch for me to see the Maid. Colin gave us a short tour around her, and then Maureen and I went and had lunch and did some shopping, meeting back up with Colin shortly after 3 p.m. We stopped off at Dumbarton cemetery on the way home to visit my father's and grand-parent's grave.

On the way back to the house Colin realised it was exactly 40 years to the day that he and Maureen had first met, and suggested we go out for a Chinese meal in the evening to commemorate this momentous event.

I got back home today around lunch time, and after lunch went and collected Jen and Poncho. They were very happy to see me. I have also been given a few tips by Sonia on trying to get Poncho in particular to behave better on our walks. I will be trying them out shortly as it is that time again...

Scrabble - What a Difference a Week Makes

I have played two tournaments so far in August, both 2-day round robins with promotion/relegation of the top/bottom 3 at the end of day 1.

One of my favourite tourneys, the Nottingham Nomads, took place in the first weekend in August. I got a lift down with my friend Allan, setting off at 7 a.m. full of hope and anticipation. I played OK and was unlucky to be relegated at the end of day 1 after winning half my games. I had needed to win my last game on day 1 by about 75 to stay up, but in an absolutely cracking 10-move each game where I played 3 bonuses and also scored 102 for BEMIX, I only won 531-467.

I was not too down-hearted and as long as I did not have a disaster on day 2 my rating would not suffer. However, I only won 4 out of 8 on day 2 as well when the tile-gods turned their backs on me. Lack of blanks did not help, but much worse than that was swinging between vowel- heavy and consonant-heavy racks.

Tourney rating only 181, and actual rating dropped 4 points to 192 as I was dropping games at well over 200.

This weekend was the Scottish Round Robin in Perth. I like this venue - it is where I won the Scottish Open championship.

I won day 1 with 6/7, with my main rival Paul coming 2nd with 5/7. The tile-gods were much kinder to me this time, giving me 8 blanks over the 7 games, and in general my racks were nicely balanced. 16 bonuses played, average score 442.

Day 2 started badly when I blew an end-game to lose by 1 point. However, I pulled myself together and finished in 2nd place with 5/7, with Paul coming 1st with 6/7. Again I got 8 blanks over the 7 games, 14 bonuses played and average score 423.

I was very pleased to beat Paul in both our games over the weekend. Tourney rating 196, and actual rating has recovered by 1 point to 193.

Still hanging on in there to gain one of the two Scottish team places for the next world championships. It is the British Matchplay Scrabble Championship at the end of August - 18 games over the bank holiday weekend. I have still to decide whether to enter the Durham Grand Event in September. I would love to as it was the brain-child of my friend Pete as an attempt to have a high prize fund tournament. I will see how I feel after the BMSC...

Paul's Birthday

It was Paul's birthday yesterday. He is always a pain when it comes to birthdays. I ask him what he wants and he always replies "Nothing". I do not believe that you can have 'nothing' for your birthday.

This year, however, he almost got his wish as I had had no chance to go shopping until the day before, and the weather was not conducive to going into Berwick. In the early afternoon it improved so I ventured out. I sort of complied with his wish in the fact that he didn't get much - cheapest birthday ever.

Every day when we go out with the dogs Paul checks the temperature. Our old thermometer was broken as it would not reset for the min/max temperatures, so that was present number one sorted. I also got him the best of Nina Simone CD and a small birthday cake. Terry Pratchett has let me down this year - normally he has published a new book at the start of August...

I suggested we went out to eat in the evening after walking the dogs. We duly set off to try the Allanton Inn. When we got there it was full. The landlord was very helpful and suggested we tried the pub at Paxton, and phoned them for us to check if they had a table. They had, so off we went. I had been in the pub before so knew that they had won awards for their food. They had an excellent menu, and we would certainly go back. We have also been warned for future reference that most places stop taking orders at 8.30 p.m. No more southern eating out habits for us now we are country folk.

Red Currant and Coconut Cake recipe

After searching the internet for inspiration of what I could do with my red currant crop I decided to improvise. I am pleased to report that the following recipe turned out to be a triumph - even my 9 year old nephew liked it enough to have 2 slices...

Ingredients
8 oz self-raising flour
4 oz butter
4 oz sugar
1 egg - beaten
1/8 pint milk
5 oz red currants (or however many you have picked...)
2 oz desiccated coconut
pinch of salt

Process
Sieve flour and pinch of salt into mixing bowl
Rub in the butter
Mix in the sugar
Add the egg and the milk and stir into the mixture until a consistent texture
Stir in the coconut
Fold in the red currants

Grease a 7" round cake tin.
Add the mixture, hollowing the centre
Cook at 170 degrees C for 1hour 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top

Early Morning

I was awoken early by Jen barking. The clock said 5.40. After tossing and turning for 10 minutes I decided to get up and go to the loo. Looking out the bathroom window I saw it was a beautiful sunny day and decided to just get up rather than go back to bed.

I wandered downstairs, made myself a cup of coffee and went outside with my smokes. The light on the trees was amazing - they seemed to be lit up from the side. The hay field to the left was a shining golden colour in the early morning light. The clouds appeared to be frozen, not a breath of wind to disturb them.

I could become a morning person on days like this, but I will probably pay for it this evening.

Long Time No Write

It was the Jim Clark International Rally on 7/8th July - the only UK rally that still is run on public roads. We had 4 legs going past our house - 2 on the Friday evening from right to left, and then 2 on the Saturday morning going left to right. Paul's mum and dad, my cousin Colin, his wife Maureen and their son Robert all came to stay and watch. Colin wanted to cut down one of my buddleias to get a better view but we managed to restrain him. Robert departed on the Saturday evening, Colin and Maureen on the Monday morning, and Paul's mum and dad stayed until Tuesday morning. I gave up my invitation to play in the UK Scrabble Masters that took place this weekend.

On Tuesday evening Paul and I were taken to The Red Lion pub in Reston by our neighbours Anne and Neil, where we had an excellent meal. I had the lamb and the portion was so large I could only manage half of it. This is the first time I have ever asked for a doggy-bag, but I think it was much appreciated by Jen and Poncho the next day.

On the Wednesday Paul departed down south to watch the first day of the test match at Lords. On the Friday he and his brother Alex flew out to Chicago to play in a bridge congress.

Maureen came back down on the Saturday as I had seen that there was an open air performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream at Paxton house on the Sunday, which we duly went to. It was very enjoyable other than we all seemed to be attacked by extremely tiny black fly things that made us itch (harvest flies???). We were all scratching away at varying intervals. They now seem to be everywhere. I actually had one inside my laptop screen yesterday - who needs cyber-pets?

I took Maureen back to the station on the Monday and settled into my own routine for a week until Pauls return. I have determined that I do not need to get up until 8 a.m. for the dogs. I also have taken the opportunity to start a diet. I have put on about half a stone since moving up here, and am determined now to lose it again. With the heat wave we are all going through at the moment I haven't felt like eating much so it has been very easy so far - lost just over 3 pounds.

On Saturday there was a bit of a disaster with the dogs. I had just gone upstairs when there was a bit of a barney between them with growls and barks. I came rushing back down and they both ran into the lounge and lay down on their beds. I thought nothing more of it until the 4pm walk when I noticed blood on Jen's right cheek. I rushed them back home and cleaned it up - it looks as if Poncho had bitten her. The last few weeks we have been plagued with flies on our walks, so I have been trying to cover her wound when we go out by folding up some tissue paper and fixing it inside her muzzle. Unfortunately, in this heat, she loves to lie down and roll around whenever we get to some shady long grass and this keeps re-opening the wound. Today there have been less flies so we have kept her muzzle off in the hope that it will scab up properly.

Paul returned home on Monday evening, after waiting at Kings Cross station for several hours when they would not let him change his ticket to get an earlier train. Other than he is still recovering from jet-lag we are now back to our normal routine.

Garden
I have done very little other than watering the pots. I really need to get back out there as the weeds are coming back, especially at the cow-shed end of the bank. Now Paul is home I can try to get a couple of hours in in the evenings when it has cooled down a bit. I have been picking my wild strawberries and having them on my cereal. Also my red and black currants appear to be ripening up. Have been looking for recipes that I can use them in...


Scrabble
I have heard from my friend Radhika that they are planning the next international tournament in Bangalore on 12-14 January next year. I have had a quick look at flights and it appears you can now fly direct from Heathrow at a very reasonable price - happy bunny.
August is a busy month - Nottingham Nomads 5/6, Scottish Round Robin 12/13 and British Matchplay Scrabble Championship 26/27/28. On the free weekend going to a second cousin's wedding in Glasgow.

Scrabble Woes

It was the ABSP Summer Matchplay in Edinburgh at the weekend, 11 games being played in total. Life started well, winning 5 out of 6 on the Saturday. Rewarded myself with a large glass of red wine, relaxing in the terrace garden and chilling out with friends. Stayed up to play a friendly game of doubles and then retired at a reasonable hour for me at a tournament.

Disaster struck on the Sunday, losing the first game when I had mis-tracked and thought my opponent had AEINNRS with no place to play a bonus. I was about 60 points ahead on a relatively blocked board so concentrated on maximizing my spread with a 2 move playout. I couldn't believe it when my opponent played out with RESINATA onto an A to win by 8 points. Still kicking myself about it in the next game against Paul Allan, the next highest rated player after me there. Things looked good when he had to change when starting and I played ANNEX for 50, picking AAGILRT from the bag. Out of all the places he could have played he blocked the A, stopping my spot of ALIGARTA onto the triple for 83 points. I held it together but the momentum turned in his favour. I thought I had a chance when I slotted EINORSS around a C to make NECROSIS for 83, emptying the bag, but he immediately played ST/TALLIED for 85 and game over. I took revenge in the next game, splattering my opponent by over 200.

The pairing system then went a bit wild and we were playing a king-of-the-hill repeat draw in the penultimate round. I played Neil Scott, another of the top rated Scottish players, who I had beaten narrowly on the Saturday. This time it went in his favour. I played my best worst move in this game. Holding DHORTY? and nowhere to play a bonus (THYROID leapt out) unless it ended in an S. Neil had just played a parallel RAXED making 5 2-letter words including XI down the G column. There was then a single gap and an E. I tried THYROXIDE for 50 keeping the blank. It was the absolute perfect move other than the fact it is not in OSWI - only THYROXIN/THYROXINE. So unlucky... A couple of late bonuses from me (BEEFIEST around an E and EOBIONT) only narrowed the margin of defeat to 14 points. I won the last game by 100, but that came down to who could use a danger spot first, having to hook WE and HER for the first two tiles. Luckily for me my opponent wasn't sure of HERM, so did not play EMIGRES. Down went my DENIALS to kill the game.

Tournament rating of 187 - 1 game below my rating, and rating dropped from 199 to 196. I was dropping games at 218 hence the dramatic decrease. Still got 20 games at 200+ to drop before I then drop my BMSC disaster of 176 from last year...