Moving Right Along

I work the two afternoon sessions on Wednesday which provided some very entertaining bridge. I start to get some emails from friends in the USA and Australia complimenting me on my commentary. WTF! It turns out that my commentary is being broadcast live on the internet through a Dutch website. Hmmm should look up whether I own the copyright.

That evening the President’s dinner where for the first time I wear a suit and tie. They have cliamed for many years that they would move away from formal but it simply hasnt happened. It is held at a lovely restaurant in Eindhoven. Old world with New World service. Prawns, confit of duck and a chocolate and berry dessert all good and tasty and enjoyed by the 120 or so people that were there. There was a rumour afterwards that the powers that be didn’t like the wine available so brought in 80 bottles at a VERY large corkage charge. I don’t believe it, but it is a good story. I was chuffed when John Wignall, the Chairman of Zone 7 (Oceania) complimented me on what a good job I was doing – all good for future gigs.

Thursday, another day another Euro as I commentate two excellent matches involving USA, Italy, Poland and Brazil. There are between 100 and 150 people in the VG theatre which is a solid showing. With bridge being VERY popular in Netherlands there are people coming from Amsterdam and other places just to watch the VG, something which normally doesn’t happen with everything being broadcast on BBO where people can watch in the comfort of their home.

The Australian teams are doing quite well, especially in the Seniors and Open.

Open
20-10 vs USA 1
17-13 vs Egypt
16-14 vs Sweden
25-5 vs Chile
19-11 vs Guadeloupe
8-22 vs USA 2
Running 11th but just 5 VPs off qualifyinf

WomenRunning a hopeless 18th

Seniors
19-11 vs USA 2
23-7 vs China HK
19-11 vs Brazil
11-19 vs Indonesia
21-9 vs France
18-12 vs Netherlands
Running 7th 9 ahead of the “drop” zone

I head into Eindhoven on the bus (which costs a very modest 3 Euros for an entire day on the whole system) to collect my rental car for use tomorrow for a day trip to Antwerp and Bruges with four wives of the Seniors Team. They try to sell me a GPS which I refused as I had installed the Benelux maps on the iPad only to find that there was one installed in the VW SUV I had rented.

Back to the hotel without incident and a buffet meal with Bobby Richman and Deb Guthrie before a relatively early 23:00 to bed.

The news of Gaddafi’s death permeates all the News outlets and while I hold no brief for him or his type I do find his murder and being dragged through the streets rather than natural justice a little unpalatable.

Anyway all good with me hope same for all in Sydney
XD