Anna @ ECatsBridge

Brrr ... it's still cold

2008-04-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

We went to Oxfordshire at the weekend, to see my sister, and visit Avebury. Lovely sunshine, but hailshowers as well and my goodness the wind was cold! We had great fun nevertheless and it was a nice break. AND I got to visit my fantastic 95-year old Aunt, who I hadn't seen for ages. She hadn't changed a scrap and is still as lively and as much fun as ever. For those of you who are Agatha Christie fans, think Miss Marple :-)

While I was gone, my assistant (well, actually my lovely elder daughter on this occasion!) packed up the master points etc for the Charity Challenge and the WBU sims (the Master point lists are on the site if you want to download them and see how well you did) and they will be in the post on Monday with my apologies for them being a bit later than normal.

We are working on the frequencies for the BGB events held earlier this month and will be emailing any queries to the clubs (and on keying in the ones that have been sent to us) and then I will get the material out for the World Wide. Of course the EBU Sims are in between and the booklets for the BGB Summer sims are with the printers, and the ones for the EBU Autumn Sims are with the proof-reader ... do you get the feeling this is a not-stop process ? I do !!

Incidentally, I am being asked a lot about what will happen with the new EBU Strategy proposals ECatsBridge Sim for Children in Need) will be open to everyone, including non EBU affiliated clubs. It is not yet decided what will happen about the BGB events but there is a meeting later this month and hopefully I will be able to post an answer to that here afterwards - so watch this space!

The WBF/BBO Women's Festival was a great success - if you didn't take part this year but would like a reminder about it before it happens again next year, drop me an email and I will add you to the mailing list. And don't forget if you want updates about Beijing and the World Championships, email me and I will add you to the mailing list for that. I also run a Press List and a Tournament Directors list, so if you want to be added to any or all, let me know - just tell me your name, which country you are in and which list you want to join : click here to email me! And I have only just thought of it, but if you want I can email you to tell you I have put a new blog ... let me know :-) After all, you really enjoy my deathless prose don't you?

What else ? Oh yes - a reminder about Pau and the European Championships ... if you are playing please let me have your systems as soon as you can. The deadline is 10 May but it really does help if you can get them in earlier !

So that's about it until next time ... Watch this space, as they say ... I'll be back !

Happy Easter

2008-03-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

First day of spring tomorrow - and the weather forecast is dire, with snow, hail and frost all to come ! That's going to scare all the daffodils and the lovely swathes of wild violets on my bank ! Probably scare me too, but Mark and I have a weekend of decorating planned ... lots of wallpaper to hang and things like that!

Anyway, there is plenty of fun bridge coming your way this spring, kicking off with the WBF / BBO Women's Festival at the beginning of April - you must register by 1st April if you want to play in this so do log on and get your registration done quickly!

Then come the BGB Simultaneous Pairs - all three of them - starting on 8th April; click here to find the club lists so you can see where you want to play ... if your club is listed at the bottom of the page, do try and send me the postcode of the premises so that we can pinpoint you on the map - much more fun! We won't put your contact number if you don't want us to, but we can add your website if you have one. And if you don't why not consider joining the ECatsBridge Club so you can put your results up using our scoring system - just £50+VAT for a whole year?

At the end of next week, my hall is going to disappear under all the material for the World Wide Bridge Contest (I will try and remember to post a picture up in my next blog!), so to save me tripping over it, do let me know as soon as you can if you want me to send you the booklets etc then Mark won't get cross with me when he tries to get through the front door!

Did you know that we stock Andrew Robson's books in the ECatsBridge Shop ? And that we have a special offer of bar-coded cards (5 bar code) for duplimate machines from the World Championships in Shanghai? They are used, of course, so no pretty boxes or cellophane, they are just held together with elastic bands, but truly they look brand new (only used a few times of course) and are less expensive than buying new. Plus you get the fun of playing with cards that the World Champions used !

That's about it for now - have a very Happy Easter ... I hope the bunny is good to you and brings you some lovely chocolate!

anna

Did you get wined and dined ? I did !

2008-02-20T02:07:00.000-08:00

I was spoilt rotten on Valentines Day - cup of tea and a card in bed in the morning, a beautiful bouquet of flowers AND a lovely dinner in my favourite restaurant. Aren't I the lucky one to have a Mark around :-)

And so we are heading towards the end of February - with an extra day tagged on this year. We have been enjoying some wonderful weather though, brilliant sunshine, which has enticed me into the garden to start clearing at one end to create a vegetable patch!

We have been working on some fun new mapping software (well, Mark has been doing the work, and tearing his hair out over it at times!!); it will be used to display the whereabouts of clubs planning to play in the national Simultaneous Pairs, and the first time will be for the Charity Challenge - just click here to get to the right page.

And on the bridge front - well, I have sent out the material for the Charity Challenge and the BGB April Simultaneous Pairs ... these are not limited to UK clubs incidentally, so if any of you clubs "out there" want to join us, do get in touch. I have typeset the booklets for the World Wide ... now that really IS a world wide event, and we hope clubs from everywhere will come and join us for that one; again, email me if you are interested and we can set it up for you.

I have put a bit of information up about Pau and the European Championships for those of you heading for France in the summer (please note, all you teams, that I need the systems registered with me by 10th May ... including the Seniors this time!), and there is a lot about the World Mind Sport Games in Beijing of course. And please remember the Womens' Bridge Festival Online - do email your female friends and tell them about that one, please !!

Finally - did you know that I organise mailing lists ? At the moment I have one for information about Beijing - so that when I put up new details, or get additional information I can let people know, I have another for TDs, so as I get more information about the Laws or appeals or things that might interest TDs and so forth ... or if you have a particular area of interest, let me know and I will think about setting up a separate mailing list about it! Within reason of course :-) Anyway, if you want to be added to my Beijing or TD list, drop me an email and let me know, remembering to tell me who you are and which country you are in please !

I can't believe ...

2008-01-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

...we are already near the end of January ... it has flown past ! And already it is noticeable that the days are starting to get longer - only by a few minutes, but it is happening. The birds are noticing it too and starting to sing, and my daffodils have got very over-enthusiastic in the mild weather and are showing buds !

We had a fun time on New Year's day ... got up very early (05.00 !) and drove to London to watch Soho waking up ! Then we went to watch the New Year Parade which was great ... photos are on my Flickr account if you are interested.

I was very sad then to hear of the death of a dear friend, Raymond Brock ... such a sadness. His obituary can be found on the EBU Website if you want to read it. I am sure you will want to join me in sending condolences to his wife, Sally, and the two children. The funeral was incredibly moving and was a fitting farewell for a great man.

So ... on the bridge front what gives ?

Well, the end of March will see me finishing my work as EBU webmaster - the EBU is going to take the job back in-house. I will be sorry to stop doing that work as it has been interesting to do, but all good things come to an end.

The main thing on the work front has been getting the WBF / BBO On Line Women's Bridge Festival ready to rock ! It will be held in April and should be great fun, so all you women out there who like to play on line, click here to go to the website to find out all about it ! Women from all over the world are welcome to play - the more the merrier - just sign up and join in !

There have been a number of Simultaneous Pairs already this year, and the Charity Challenge is coming up on March 13th in aid of Action Medical Research, so do join us for that if you can. Lots more for the future as well, so have a look at the Calendar for other dates.

It's going to be a busy year, what with the European Championships in Pau (I don't go to that, just deal with all the systems) and of course the World Mind Sport Games in Beijing so there is plenty to look forward to ! If you are involved in Youth Bridge, please please make sure that your National Bridge Organisation is sending a team to the Junior Championships (or a pair or an individual if they can't manage a team!) It is so important that as many countries as possible send a Junior team - for this one the players can be aged up to 28. Click here for more details. and make sure your NBO knows that the Juniors will get free accommodation and all meals and that it is also hoped that air flights will be provided free for them as well.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

2007-12-19T02:23:00.000-08:00

How lovely - it is Christmas. I am closing the office on Friday until 2nd January, and have lots of lovely social things arranged - dinners with friends and all the things Christmas should be! The tree is decorated (of course), the turkey is ordered, the table decorations ready and the crackers bought. And today the weather is even exactly right - chilly with a hint of frost and brilliant sunshine. Let's hope it lasts!

I hope you all have a good Christmas as well - and if celebrating Christmas is not for you, please accept my good wishes nevertheless. And for everyone - have a great year in 2008, I hope it will prove to be a successful, peaceful and enjoyable one.

On the bridge front ... well, the lists are up to tell you which clubs are taking part in the January Simultaneous Pairs and as soon as I get back I will be inviting entries for the WBF Charity Pairs which is in aid of UNICEF this year - the Children's Charity, so I hope you will be able to join us for that.

But for now - I just wish you all peace and tranquillity, whatever you are doing over Christmas and the New Year - have a great time !

anna

Bridge Players are wonderful - it's official

2007-11-22T05:33:00.001-08:00

I just can't believe how much money you all raised for Children in Need - thank you so much, all of you who took part and donated so generously. Over £55,000 ... truly amazing. For those of you who couldn't join us this year, we will be doing it again (insanity runs in both Mark's and my family obviously !). It is such fun, so do think about joining us next November !

It has been a frantic month, what with that, and getting all the information together about Beijing 2008 and the World Mind Sport Games.

Add to that extra bits to do with the Laws, lots of work on the EBU site, getting information ready for publication in the new WBF Directory, to say nothing of preparing for the EBL sims, sending out the mailshot for all next year's sims to the clubs, sending out the January Sims material and (well in a day or two) sending out the results from the Autumn BGB Sims ... with apologies for lateness, you can see why I am feeling positively breathless ! And looking forward to a nice break over Christmas!

But before that I need to get the BGB April Sims material typeset as well as the EBU May Sims stuff ... and get the July one off to the commentators and organise things for the Autumn ones ... one long cycle of events and you have to keep on top of it or it is a major "firefighting" exercise!

There isn't much direct news really, but I just wanted to stay in touch via this blog so you don't forget to come back and look occasionally you see !

A quick mention for my American friends who celebrate Thanksgiving today - I hope you have a great day ... and to my special Scottish friends who will be celebrating St Andrew's Day shortly - I hope you like our St Andrew's day cat, devised especially for you.

Until the next time ....

Shanghai - a distant memory already!

2007-10-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a safe journey home from Shanghai - I was actually "bumped" off my flight, but as that meant they moved me to another flight and put me business class I wasn't actually too annoyed! Once I got home I slept for hours ! I am one of the lucky ones and don't suffer from jet lag as such, although I was very tired and did a lot of sleeping. But I was always aware of the time and did my sleeping (mainly) through the night, though confess to an afternoon kip on the Monday and Tuesday after I got back!

Last Monday Mark went into hospital for the day and had his gall bladder out (together with some very large gall stones !) and he is making a good recovery, though still suffering a bit as a result of the anaesthetic ... before he went in, we had a lovely weekend pottering around and taking photographs, with the colours and light really starting to tell us that autumn is well and truly here. Thought you might like this one, just to show how pretty it is round here!

As for me and the bridge stuff - well, I have been getting the results of the EBU Autumn Sim ready to post -they will be going to the post office this afternoon at last. The BGB one is having the frequencies checked at the moment then I will finalise that and, of course, we are gearing up for the Children in Need event - click here for more details of that and click here for lists of clubs playing in the event. Do join us if you can and help us raise lots of lovely money for the charity - we sent them over £53,000 last year and it would be wonderful to beat that in 2007. If you can't join us but would like to make a donation - well that would be wonderful. Just click here and it will tell you how !

Then once that is over there is the European Simultaneous Pairs on Monday 26 and Wednesday 28 November - all the material for that is sent by email, and if you would like to join us - well that would be great - just email me (anna@ecats.co.uk) and we can sort it out for you! By which time it will be time to pack up and send out the next BGB Event - the January Pairs ! Arrrrggghhh!

And in the meantime I really (really) need to get the entry forms out for 2008 - they are nearly ready to print so I hope to get that going in the next few days!

The EBU site has now got its complete calendars up for 2008 - do let me know if you spot an error won't you, or if you want your county event included, drop me an email. Club events can go on the club events page, so if you have an open event, again, let me know and I will try and sort it out for you.

So long ... and thanks for all the fish !

2007-10-13T00:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it is just about over ! The last 8 boards are being played (and are, I am told, pretty exciting!) - as I write this the USA team has just pulled back a raft of IMPs in the final with Norway ... but now I am finishing off, I learn that Norway has won !

Carol is double checking the minutes from this mornings meeting - and you should watch this space for exciting news about the junior events in Beijing next year! Christine is sorting out her last bits and pieces and we are all cutting CDs and DVDs of the data we have accumlated on our laptops so that it is all backed up in case of disaster - then we will give them to each other for safety (how paranoid can you get !)

Goodbyes are being said, as we all prepare to go our separate ways. Few of us will meet again until next year in Beijing, which makes these annual events extra special. Love is being sent to the ones who didn't make it this year for various reasons, boxes of material are being packed up ... how on earth did we fit it all in to get it here ? There is always so much more to take home, despite using up lots of consumables !

Then it will be time to go up to the room, open my suitcase and hurl everything into it - after all, packing to go home is just target practice ! Though why on earth packing clothes to go home should always seem to take up more space is also totally beyond me. Life is, indeed, full of mystery.

Tonight is the Victory Banquet, when we celebrate the achievements of the winners, relax with friends over a dinner, and - I am told - watch and enjoy a show, so that should be great fun. Not that I want to be too late, as I have to catch a shuttle to the airport at 06.00 tomorrow morning - yuk ! My flight is at 10.55 and I land at 4.15 ... please don't expect me to be in the office on Monday though. Sleep is top of my list of priorities (after cuddling family and cats of course !)

So - as in the title (thanks Douglas Adams !) ... so long and thanks for all the fish - thank you for reading my blogs, and I hope you have enjoyed them. And I will be back with more in due course ...

nearly there ...

2007-10-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I didn't get to post anything yesterday - it was a really busy day and I shut down with such a sense of relief, I don't think I could have typed another word!

Today has seen the 2007 Laws adopted by the WBF Executive Council, and they are posted on my website for download, translation and adoption by the Zones. I will be emailing out very shortly to tell all the NBOs, Zones, TDs and Press about it ... it has been the culmination of 5 years work by a great sub committee, all of whom are very relieved and are wandering around looking relaxed!

We are all looking with some dismay at the amount of material we have to get home with us - many of the people here have been shopping to good effect, and have quite a bit of extra baggage. Mine was very overweight on the way here, but I haven't been near a shop, being a good girl, so if I can disgorge some of the non-essentials like the shampoo, I may get near the 23 kilos I am meant to have!

The Championships are all winding down - we are busy checking to see who will become World Grand Masters at the end ... looks as though there will be one or two, but of course it depends on who wins! You can only become a World Grand Master if you have a) 10 placing points - very hard to come by - AND b) have actually won a World Championship.

Poor Carol has been in meetings again today - the final council meetings, where they deal with the reports from all the committees and things like that, and make plans for the future. Beijing is going to be really (really) exciting next year, so watch this space for more information and all the details!

And now it is just one more day - I fly home on Sunday, and Mark is going to meet me at the airport and take me home, to my fabulous family, to my extended family (Mark's sons), my cats, the railway station and my own bed! And to my relief I have heard from my younger daughter who has got to Lima safely AND found an internet connection which is marvellous! Tomorrow will undoubtedly be extremely hectic, with all the final last minute things, the packing up and so forth, so if you don't hear from me ... I will be in touch again when I get back to England, home and beauty !!

eeeek ... look at the time

2007-10-10T03:36:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try and finish early - joke !!!

But it has been a good day for getting things done. You may have seen the picture of the Laws Drafting Sub Committee in today's bulletin, relaxing after a job well done. It has been a long hard slog for them to get the draft done and they certainly deserved the celebration !

The day went quickly - the last bits of the laws printed off for the final final proofread, the transnational teams checked, the start of the arrangements for the Victory Banquet, plus sundry other bits and pieces. A working lunch with Anna Maria Torlontano, working on Women's Committee things - there is a new project afoot for a WBF / BBO Women's Festival to be held next April which should be excellent fun, so watch this space for more information as it becomes available.

I am told that the bridge is quite exciting too !!! After the fall of mighty Italy, everyone is watching the South African team of course to see how they fare in the semi finals. We got 148 teams in the transnational in the end - what you might call a goodly number ! They are all battling it out now - when you go down between sessions the noise is just unbelievable mainly because the halls are all marble so the echo is incredible! I am just grateful that it is 2 floors down - I remember in Istanbul the playing rooms were right outside our office and every time the players came out we were nearly deafened by the noise.

There are lots of meetings going on with IMSA (International Mind Sports Association) to set up the World Mind Sport Games in Beijing next year - poor Carol has had the joy of taking the minutes at those ! And Christine has been going nearly demented sorting out the entry fees for the Transnationals and the payments to all the staff, the per diems etc.

So - now it is time to go and find some Appeals Committee members who may be needed for an Appeal, then I am going to call it quits for the day - it is 7.20 pm and I have had enough for one day

I have been online (thank you MSN) to Mark in the office, and as he has installed a webcam there, have been able to watch him at work, and also see my daughter, Vickie, who is busy packing up the CiN material ready to post when the post office will accept it. My younger daughter flew off on her adventures (see an earlier blog for more detail) at some "oh-mi-god" o'clock this morning, lucky girl! and I am going to have a little brag about my granddaughter, Jasmine who has just won the Year 7 cup for Maths at her school :-) Heaven knows where she gets it from - it certainly doesn't come from me !!

more tomorrow ... hope I am not boring you !!

No gossip !

2007-10-09T03:31:00.001-07:00

There isn't a lot to say about today - it has been reasonably quiet, giving me a chance to work on the new Laws documentation and ensure that it is all in order - printouts are being done for proof reading, so I have had a chance to concentrate on that.

The wind has died down and the sun even came out for a while I am told ! I have been hiding behind my i-tunes to such good effect, I don't even know what has been going on in the bridge ! No doubt you can find that out by going to all the links and looking at the results and Vu Graph and things like that. And there are bulletins to read as well, with lots of the hands being reported.

So, not much news today - will try and do better tomorrow !

Behind the scenes

2007-10-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

The offices behind the scenes consist of the WBF Secretariat (where I work alongside Carol von Linstow and Christine Francin) – we are pictured here relaxing in the evening – Carol on the left as you look at the photo, me on the right, and Christine in the middle. It is a big room, which is just as well, we need the space !

Beside us is the WBF Meeting room, set up boardroom style, where the main Meetings are held, including the Meetings of the WBF Executive Council. It has the comfiest chairs in the building, and is really a very imposing room, with a massive oval table with a hole in the middle to put projectors on for presentations and things .

Next to that is the duplication room – now, I am sure that some of you will deal the boards for your clubs using the duplimate machines – spare a thought for the team doing it here in Shanghai – they are pictured here with some of the hundreds of boards that they deal again and again. The hands played in the events are, of course all the same and during the fortnight this team will deal a staggering 40,200 boards!

As you can see, there are stacks and stacks of boards just awaiting their attention !

The pink shirts, by the way, are the "uniform" polo shirts worn by all the members of the Shanghai Bridge Association who are working here and helping us - there are so many of them, and they are really great, helping in all departments, practising their English and allowing us to try and speak in Chinese !

On the other side of the corridor is the Main Office, where the photocopying of the hand records is done, and where the Operations Director, Maurizio Di Sacco has his office. Next up is the IT department, full of boxes of equipment (mostly empty at the moment) and there are a couple of desks set up there with computers for use by committee members.

The final room on "our" corridor is the bulletin room, where the editors try and convince me that they are slaving away all day and deserving of my deep sympathy! They do a great job on the bulletin though, as I am sure you know from reading it each day!

Across the way – over on the other side of the main corridor is the Vu Graph room and the filming studio, and I posted a picture of that early on in these blogs. Next to it is the Press room where all the members foregather to write and send their articles. Behind that is a small meeting room that is used for Appeals and sub committee meetings. And that's about it really for the offices – in some ways we could do with a bit more space – another couple of meeting rooms would be useful, but we manage OK !

The Vu graph theatre is also on this floor, and is packed for every session ! The computer championships is being played up on the 5th floor (we are on the 3rd floor) and the main playing rooms are all downstairs on the ground floor. However, the semi finals have been moved up to the 5th floor to permit the Transnational open teams to take up all the space on the ground floor – it is going to be a bit of a squeeze as at the moment we are expecting some 150 teams!

It has been the most chaotic afternoon, with teams registering left right and centre, changing their team members – which sometimes changes the amount they have to pay – but, we have got there. It is about to start !! And that is my work done for today … phew – I am exhausted !!

Mid term blues ....

2007-10-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

It is a funny thing with these championships, but around this time you tend to get the mid-term blues. It isn't helped by the fact the often – as in this case – the offices are windowless, so we get no sunshine, no daylight. Living in an hotel is just hard work – however comfortable the room, the pillows are not your own, the sounds around you are different. In this case there is the constant hum of the air conditioning (very necessary, believe me!), and you just don't sleep very well.

The days are long – I am generally in the office by about 8 or 8.30, finishing around 7.30 or 8 in the evening, sometimes a bit earlier but not a lot. So that in itself is tiring.

Here there is no chance of going out for a breath of fresh air – it is hot and sticky outside, not fresh at all, and the pollution is … well, let's just say that fresh it isn't ! And I am a country girl at heart – I am lucky enough to live in the country in England, in a village, but behind the station (I live in a Railway Station in case you didn't know!) there are trees and the river and lovely wildlife and I am missing it dreadfully ! It isn't helped by Mark not being here with me, by knowing that my daughter Vick is going to be at home packing up the Children in Need material and I am not there to help and – most difficult of all in many ways – knowing that my younger daughter, Catherine is about to leave for a year to travel through South America, New Zealand and South East Asia with "her" Mark (all these Mark's get very confusing). So … mid term blues! And in the words of the song … "I wanna go home" !!

Anyway, today is a "Transnational" day, when the teams who have not qualified will make themselves into new teams to play in the new event, and will come to register ready to start play tomorrow, so it is busy busy busy and the office will be buzzing all day – which is why I am actually writing this first thing, although I won't post it until the end of the day in case there is any extra news.

And there isn't much really ! The quarter finals are under way and, as I guessed, the transnationals have kept me very busy – I have been preparing invoices, checking the numbers of teams and the names and things, and Christine has been dealing with the finances.

And the day has run away with me as usual, and it is time for me to close down and go and find some dinner … then to bed and back to the fray tomorrow ! Hopefully the blues will start to turn rosy pink as we get closer to the end :-)

It's getting positively tense here

2007-10-06T04:10:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of the round robin - indeed as I type it is the end of the last match, and the qualifiers will be decided in a few minutes. For the rest of the teams it is either a plane ticket home or entry into the Transnational Open Teams ! Looks like it was all quite close at the top as well with an exciting finish in the race for qualification! It is just finishing then there will be the Captains' Meeting to determine who plays who in the quarter finals - thank goodness I don't have to attend that :-)

It's been quite a reasonable day for me, sorting out Transnational entries as teams realise they will not be playing in the Knock out stages, finding some pictures of Beijing for the Bulletin, to tell the world about the World Mind Sport Games next year, printing up some more documents for the Laws Committee and generally dealing with various bits and bobs as they came up.

Seems we are in for a typhoon either tonight or tomorrow morning, so that will be an interesting experience. The local organisers don't think it will disrupt play but it may not be too good for the Grand Prix tomorrow ! Looks like the drivers are in for very wet conditions!

Don't forget to go to the page of links on the site to find out all about this tournament will you - you can get all the convention cards of the players and see what systems they are playing as well if you are interested.

Tonight I am off out for a birthday party, and the Birthday Girl (Adele Wignall from New Zealand) has expressed a strong wish to eat Peking Duck, so we have found a nice restaurant and will be off there shortly. Now it is time to try and phone my daughter - thank goodness for VOIP! and then close the computer down so it can cool off and be ready for me tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Mark

2007-10-05T01:29:00.001-07:00

Before I tell you about my day, I want to wish Mark, my partner, a very very happy birthday - Mark is in England and I am missing him very much and wishing I could be with him ... Mark, have a great day - we are all thinking of you and I am looking forward to seeing you when I get back. I am being very restrained and not telling the world how old you are please note !!

I left you last night to head for the WBF President's Dinner - and it was such a great evening ! Here is a picture of José Damiani - the President of the World Bridge Federation.

The atmosphere was far more relaxed than it has been at some of these events in the past, and it really turned into a good party - one where it seemed that everyone really enjoyed themselves. The dinner itself was delicious, and my table companions delightful, so a good time was certainly had.

There were a number of presentations of WBF Awards made at the beginning of the evening, then Bill "Kojak" Schoder played the piano for us for a while - for those of you who don't know, Kojak was Chief Tournament Director of the WBF for years and is much loved. Max Bavin (Chief TD of the EBU) is now Chief TD of the WBF and led his team to stand with Kojak - it was a wonderful moment !

Today started with a meeting of the WBF Women's Committee ... I am Secretary to the Committee so need to attend, and that took up a big chunk of my morning, followed by sorting out a few bits and pieces for the bulletin. There was a big meeting of IMSA today (International Mind Sports Association), and so I got invited to their lunch, which was nice.

This afternoon has kind of vanished, strange really as I don't feel I have done very much yet I have actually been hammering away at my computer the whole time so I guess I must have done something ! Quite a lot of time was devoted to the new Laws, getting the latest set of files into order ready for the Executive (that necessitated putting the headphones on and shutting the world out!)

Now, it is time to head out for dinner and (hopefully) an early night to be ready for the fray tomorrow !

Heavens what a day !

2007-10-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

The office has really been buzzing today - lots of emails to start the morning, deep joy - thank goodness for good virus protection as there were about a dozen with a particularly unpleasant trojan worm ! So, that dealt with, the day really got going with people needing notices doing for the bulletin, changes made to transnational teams then a meeting about youth bridge with two of the Australians.

The pace this afternoon didn't let up either, with designing posters for the President's Dinner this evening to tell people where to go, plus I was interviewed on Vu-Graph by Jean Paul Meyer - a very nerve-wracking experience let me tell you ... I am unused to being in the public eye like that ... normally I am just behind a computer screen :-) Then there was the President's speech to be typed and corrected ready for him to deliver this evening.

I left you last night to go out for dinner with two members of the Australian Open team - we had a lovely evening, at a Japanese Restaurant. I don't "do" sashimi, but the food we ordered was delicious - some super beef, savoury noodles to die for, vegetable tempura ... all sorts of yummy things !

And tonight I leave you to go and change ready for the President's dinner, always a great occasion and one I really look forward to. I will tell you about it tomorrow :-)

...Frantic morning !

2007-10-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

My feet had to hit the ground running this morning - everything seemed to be needed at once, plus we found that the Special Olympics people had taken over the ground floor and had removed our entire hospitality area ! It was a misunderstanding and soon sorted, but still took some dealing with. The pictures that they have up of the athletes are just amazing - very emotive and touching.

Then there was my normal daily clutch of emails to be attended to, together with a whole raft of documents about the new laws which had to be sorted, saved, converted and printed - a job requiring high concentration so I put the headphones on and disappeared into my i-tunes ! Next job up was sorting out the transnational teams - we have 125 teams at the moment and rising, so it is a matter of checking them into the database and hoping there are no duplicates by mistake! then all the printouts have to be done, so that the people at the registration desk can do their job properly.

Managed to escape for a quick lunch and a whistle stop walk round the hotel to take a few photos - there are too many to upload here so if you want to see them, click here. Didn't stay out too long though - it is HOT out there !!!

Then back into the lovely air conditioning and off into to the playing area to try and find someone to arrange a meeting (failed miserably). However, I did meet up with friends from South Africa and had a nice natter with them. Back up to the office to get going with the report I have to do but was called into an appeal to give some information to the Committee which took an age .

And suddenly it is 19.30 and I haven't done half the things I set out to do today! So I guess it is an early start for me tomorrow :-) ... time to wander down to meet friends for dinner.

Chinese feasts !

2007-10-02T03:03:00.000-07:00

Well, after the first Chinese feast on Monday, when I was invited to a dinner offered by the Chinese Bridge Federation, I had a marvellous evening last night - I was invited by the President of Zone 6 to a private dinner at a restaurant in "downtown" Shanghai. It all started with a bus trip to the restaurant - an adventure in itself as it is a Chinese Holiday this week and the streets were thronged with people, wandering all over the road, with street vendors selling everything from clothes and souvenirs to food and drink.

We made it safely to the restaurant which was in one of the old buildings and is used for private parties. And the food started coming - I have never seen so many courses ! There was something for most tastes, and it was a real challenge to try them all. I found that I really don't particularly like jellyfish ... it had been (I think) fried, and was kind of like a solid crunchy but nevertheless jelly-like texture - I can't describe it better than that. I bottled out on the sea-cucumber, but tried most of the other dishes. Some I liked better than others, but there were some really fabulous ones among them. The slow cooked pork was memorable and the braised beef nothing short of magnificent. I was surprised to find foie gras and caviar (not togther - as separate dishes!) on the menu and I have no idea what variety of mushrooms we ate but they were excellent. There were some amazing vegetable dishes including one of the smallest peas (or maybe a variety of bean) that I have ever seen and were quite stunning! I discovered that I can live without ever eating Lotus again, and the shrimps with ginko aren't very interesting unless you dip them in the vinegar/soy dipping sauce. The company was fun and it was a great evening.

This morning started with reading the bulletin as normal, but it was full of bridge hands so I didn't linger over long with it !! Then there were some reports to type up and get ready for the WBF Women's Committee Meeting which is on Friday, then a report to write for the Executive Committee about the World Wide Bridge Contest (by the way, don't forget to come and play in that next year will you !!)

Then I went on a search through the building for the on-site organiser which gave me some exercise (it's a BIG building!). I didn't actually find her but I did find a good view out of the windows next to the lifts, so that is what the pictures are - the big tower is the very famous Shanghai Telecoms tower, and the view is just up the street - as you can see, even mid-afternoon it is very busy.

Having failed in my mission to find the person I was searching for, I returned like a good girl to my desk and sorted out the lists of transnational teams

The bridge progresses successfully I gather - the playing conditions seem excellent and the teams are happy which is the really important thing at these events!

Now, as it is 7.15 pm, I am going to upload this and go to find some food !

Phew what a day!

2007-10-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a strange day here - I overslept slightly which didn't help (only until 07.30 but still a bit later than I intended), so didn't get into the office until about 8.30. There seemed to be all sorts of bits and pieces that needed dealing with - players coming with changes to their systems, work to do on the new Laws, entries for the transnational teams coming in ... all sorts of things. The WBF Meetings got underway, so Carol disappeared into the meeting room for the day to take the minutes, and Christine and I were left to hold the fort in the office. Somehow I don't seemed to have stopped all day, but as it has all been "bitty" things I don't feel I have a lot to show for it, but I suppose it was reasonably productive on the whole.

As far as I can tell, play is going smoothly - we are on the 3rd floor of the conference centre and play is on the ground floor - you can't even hear the hum of noise when the players start to come as we are quite isolated up here. The Bulletin room is opposite the office, with the editors coming and going, but the Press room is across the corridor and we don't even hear them ! We are kept well supplied with coffee by the organisation - I am going to be bouncing off the walls tonight I think, I have drunk so much caffeine !

Last night I worked late, helping with the bulletin, but after that I went with one of the Tournament Directors up to the Moon Bar, which is fabulous with great views over the river, where you can see the lights of Shanghai - it was beautiful and we sat up there with friends and took it all in. Tonight I have been invited to dinner with the President of the Zone 6 Bridge Federation and am really looking forward to that.

Tomorrow I will try and get out and about with the camera a little bit, if I have time.

Up and Running !

2007-09-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

The opening ceremony went very smoothly, with the TV crews seemingly more interested in the celebrities in the front row that in what was going on on the stage as you can see from the picture. We were very honoured to have some very important dignitaries from the IOC present among others and it certainly caused a lot of excitement ! The Chinese Contract Bridge Association then put on a buffet for all the participants and it was scrummy :-)

The amazing Patrick Choy managed to get a Senior Team here from Hong Kong at about 24 hours notice to replace the Pakistan Seniors who withdrew at the last minute so all the berths were filled! Play got underway on time at 11.00 this morning and the results are coming in thick and fast - all the links to them are on the website for you.

Behind the scenes the computers are behaving, the first bulletin was printed and delivered to the convention centre on time and is, of course, on internet. All the papers are photocopied for the start of the WBF Meetings tomorrow and the Laws Drafting Committee has started its deliberations to finalise the new Laws ready for publication next year. There are the inevitable glitches, but at least they are (or seem to be) minor and (mostly) quite easily solved ... like the sudden realisations that no one had any appeals forms !! And to everyone's intense relief the coffee machines have arrived !

Our office goes from lovely and peaceful while play is on, to a hub of activity between sessions, with the buzz of chatter in various languages and the occasional explosion from an over-excited player being heard from the corridor outside. The first expedition to the local shops has been undertaken ... to get some extra technical stuff that is required, so not too exciting but I am sure that there will be some far more interesting forays soon once we are more settled!

Building up ...

2007-09-29T02:10:00.001-07:00

Well, all the players seem to have arrived, and the excitement is building. The captains' meeting has been held, the tables are ready, the scoring system is installed, the VuGraph cameras are ready to roll and I will shortly be going to get changed for the opening ceremony and then the championships will officially be rolling !

It seemed last night as though we were starting to celebrate - I went out for dinner with friends, to a riverside restaurant and suddenly the sky lit up with a fabulous firework display ... it seems there is a national holiday approaching, so it wasn't really to welcome us, but it felt like it. The Chinese are famous for their fireworks of course, and these were no exception. I wasn't really prepared, but managed to get this snapshot to remember it by. The dinner was great as well (Spanish Tapas !) and we had a lovely evening.

The first bulletin should be on the WBF website tomorrow all ready for you to download and read over breakfast - I have put a page of links to sites with information about the championships (results, bulletins, online vu-graph and so forth) - click here to go to it.

I will try and get some pictures from the Opening for you so ... watch this space !

Getting into the swing of things ...

2007-09-28T01:54:00.000-07:00

We have spent the day "moving in" to the convention centre - getting our computers set up adding new printer drivers (why is the one you want never there ?!), and getting onto the internal network that has been set up. The hospitality desk is up and running and distributing the bags, players are arriving almost by the minute and all the staff are here. The Vu-Graph studio is in place as you can see, though the background wiring is still being done. We have photocopiers set up (5 big ones …) notices are on the display boards outside the offices to tell people where to find places like the Press Room. There is a small army of helpers building the tables with screens ready for play, moving the computers to their final stations, checking the network connections between the floors.

Tomorrow things get going in earnest, with the Captains' Meeting and then the Opening Ceremony in the evening ... then an early night for everyone ready for the start of play on Sunday morning.

On a personal note, we discovered a great Korean restaurant last night and enjoyed beef with noodles and some fantastic chicken soup with ginseng! It was a fun evening – a massive building, the first four floors filled with shops then the next six (yes six) floors just of restaurants ! I have never seen so many restaurants in one place – something for every taste, and it was really hard to choose between them.

This is a photograph of the Huang Po River taken from my bedroom window at dawn … just to show you a bit of Shanghai !

I will find some more pictures later to give you even more of a flavour of the event ... so watch this space as they say !

Empty rooms !

2007-09-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

This morning was the time to check through the venue and make final decisions about which room should be allocated for which purpose - obviously the playing rooms are the main halls and are unchanging, but the offices have to be carefully looked at and decisions made about the layout - both for which room will be which office, and for the layout within the rooms as well. It is surprising to some people how much infrastructure there has to be and the different aspects that have to be taken into account. For example, the duplication room is very noisy, so can't be next to a meeting room. The vu-graph studio needs a lot of space, plenty of air conditioning (it gets very hot under those lights) and must be in a quiet area. The WBF meeting room requires a board room layout, the WBF office (mine, shared with Carol who is WBF Secretary and Christine who is Assistant Treasurer) needs space enough for all the paperwork, somewhere for people to hold quiet one-to-one meetings, and things like that.

The only room that isn't empty at the moment is this one, where a lot of the equipment is stashed awaiting distribution to the various departments as you can see in this photograph. This is all shipped in from Europe and the boxes you can see contain hundreds of boards for duplication, all the WBF laptops - about 80 of them - printers, leads, hubs and sundry other items. Two container-loads of material in total is shipped out to a Championship ... more if we need to ship tables and screens, but in this instance those are being provided by the local organisation.

The playing room is having the partition built to separate the Open and Closed Rooms, and once that is done the tables will be built and it will be transformed from an enormous open space to a very busy area - I will post more pictures of that later !

Many of the players are now starting to arrive and have a look round and of course lots of the staff members too - it is great to see them and renew old friendships ... for most of them we only meet once a year at the World Championships, so there is lots of news (and gossip) to catch up on !

Watch this space for more ... hopefully tomorrow !

Welcome to Shanghai

2007-09-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

So - I have arrived in Shanghai for the 2007 World Championships - and wow is it an amazing place. We had a warm welcome at the airport from members of the Chinese Contract Bridge Association and were brought to our hotel - I am very fortunate to be staying at the Oriental Riverside Hotel right on the river, next to the famous Shanghai Telecoms Tower, and it is a gorgeous hotel let me tell you ! With, as you can guess because I am posting this, a broadband connection that I am making good use of.

I am going to try and post a blog on a regular basis, to try and give you some idea of what it is like "behind the scenes" at one of these events - so watch this space. I will take some pictures and post them as well, and hope you will find it interesting.

Today, we have had brief look round the Convention centre - which is enormous, and some initial plans are being made by the technical team for the exact layout of the rooms and offices. Tomorrow will be the major day for those decisions and for starting to get to work in readiness for the arrival of the various teams of people who will be working here - the Tournament Directors, the Scoring Team, the Bulletin Editors and of course the Secretariat (well, we are here already!) and later on the Press and Media.

I have seen an army of helpers already packing the hospitality bags - all the participants get one of those - and they will soon start filling the empty rooms with tables and screens, computers and technical equipment, bidding boxes, bidding trays and all the attendant paraphernalia needed for a World Championship

The WBF Executive are also arriving in readiness for their meetings and I have spotted the first of the participating teams coming to get acclimatised and over their jet lag before play starts on Sunday.

It is all quite quiet and empty at the moment, but it will soon start buzzing! And I will try and keep up with the atmosphere and the excitement for you ... hope you will find it interesting!

Summer's almost over

2007-08-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

What there was of it - I don't know about you, but the summer here in England has been singularly uninspiring - thank goodness I managed to escape to the wilds of Orkney for a while where the weather was fine if a bit chilly and I had a lovely relaxing time with my sister joining for the first week, and then my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter for the second week. It was a bit of a squash in the caravan we rented, but we had enormous fun! I took some pictures (as always) and they are here if you want to have a look. The ducklings were particularly adorable :-). And despite the little galley kitchen we managed to prepare some yummy food !

So what news on the bridge front ? Well, the system cards have all been filed for Shanghai - you can find them here if you are interested in seeing what the top players are playing this year. I am not quite at the stage of packing a suitcase, but I am certainly thinking carefully about what I am going to take especially in terms of the technical stuff!

And we are also looking foward to Beijing of course, in October 2008 (I can't wait !) ... I have just put up a press release about that - click here to read it. And click here to read the other Press Release about FISU (been a busy day today !)

Not long now to the EBU Simultaneous Pairs - Monday 17 & Tuesday 18 September. Club lists are up if you want them - just click here to find them. And the material has just been sent out for the BGB Autumn Pairs on 10th & 11th October. Club lists for that will go up in due course.

Our annual ECatsBridge Simultaneous Pairs for Children in Need is fast approaching - the dates are Friday 9th, then Monday - Thursday 12th - 15th November ... different hands each night of course (I must be barmy!). Last year we raised a staggering £53,567.35 - that's $107,975.09 which is amazing - aren't you bridge players just fantastic ! I wonder if we can beat that this year. If your club wants to enter, do email me and let me know - we would love to have you join us! Details of the event are here

That's about it for now - watch this space though for future blogs!
all the best to all of you
anna