I book a car rental for Friday when I am expecting to drive to Brugge with four of the senior’s wives - Buchen, Klinger, Haughie and Deb Guthrie.
That evening we go to Veldhoven Village/Township and partake of a Greek meal. Not bad lots of grilled meats not my scene. None of the restaurants here have menus in English and they are terribly set up for large numbers such as the fifteen we were the night. I had invited my friend and the tournament organiser Maurizio Di Sacco to join us and had a very pleasant conversation which is often difficult in large groups.
Australia has done reasonably today
Open - Bilski (c) Nunn, Hans, Grosvenor, del'Monte, Nabil Edgtton and Paul Gosney
18-12 vs Canada
15-15 vs India
17-13 vs Netherlands who are one of the more fancied teams
Women
14-16 vs the favoured German team
10-20 vs Poland
11-19 vs New Zealand
Seniors - Matt Mullamphy (c) Klinger, Haughie, Buchen, Christie, Richman & Braithwaite
14-16 vs India
25-5 vs Guadeloupe
17-13 vs fancied Italy
New Zealand with Michael Cornell are running 12th out of 22 but are yet to play all bottom seven teams.
Although rustically functional I must say the convention centre where the events being staged has quite grown on me. On arrival it was large and rambling and now that we know where things are located etc. it all seems to work quite well.
Today (Tuesday) I wake up at 05:00 and fiddle around for a few hours before breakfast which I share with Bobby and Deb and others as they filter in. I have narrowed breakfast down to smoked salmon and boiled eggs.
Luckily the commentary panel today is joined by world champion Fulvio Fantoni who raises the level just a few notches!!!
A lunch meeting of the Executive of the International Bridge Press Association and I race back to the second session of the day which is Italy versus USA 2 – interesting but nothing sensational except this hand:
E/W will invariably make 6H unless South underleads his heart and gets a club ruff – yeah good luck with that. 7D is a mere two down for -300 versus 1430 for the likely making slam. However some tables sacrifice in clubs which isn’t good as once a club is ruffed on the table the defence can draw trumps and cash their club winners. Here are the results from the open with lots of IMPS flying around.
Anyway after this session a World Bridge Federation Youth Committee Meeting followed by a buffet dinner at the hotel with Michael Cornell and the New Zealand Team and a much more intimate group of six.
The Aussies mess up their last match in every division Australia has poorly today
Open - Bilski (c) Nunn, Hans, Grosvenor, del'Monte, Nabil Edgtton and Paul Gosney
13-17 vs Favourites Italy
7-23 vs Pakistan
7-23 vs India
Running 15th Needing to run 8th
Women
14-16 vs the favoured German team
10-20 vs Poland
11-19 vs New Zealand
Seniors - Matt Mullamphy (c) Klinger, Haughie, Buchen, Christie, Richman & Braithwaite
14-16 vs India
25-5 vs Guadeloupe
17-13 vs fancied Italy
New Zealand with Michael Cornell are running 12th out of 22 but are yet to play all bottom seven teams.
Next morning on a whim I get the bus the 20 minutes to Eindhoven, only to find a relatively sterile and quite unappealing city that could easily have been built in Russia during the Communist era. There seem to be a large number of watch, jewellery shops and optometrists – go figure.
I run into the ‘girls’ at the Railway Station on their way to Maastricht as I head back to the hotel. On the way I stop at what I thought was Veldhoven to restock my supplies only to find I was at Veldhoven Centrum and not the village which is near my hotel.
Note to self, taxis can only be phoned with a 10-15 minute wait. I arrive back at the hotel in time to work the two afternoon sessions.
Anyway nothing more for now
Best.....
David
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