And they call this summer ?!

I don't know about you, but here in England it has been the wettest June since records began and it is merrily continuing into July. However, I am not really complaining because we spent the last two weeks in June on the Orkneys - right up there in the North of Scotland. And we were rather luckier - it was cloudy some of the time, chilly (well quite cold actually) some of the time, but also sunny some of the time and we really didn't get much rain at all. And we relaxed and it was great. Took some pictures which you can find those on Flickr if you are interested.

And I had a reminder about another wet summer yesterday when a very old friend, Tony Sowter emailed me telling me he has set up his own website. Tony is/was an international player of some repute, winning the European Championships back in Killarney in Ireland, playing with Roman Smolski .. all too many years ago but what a fun Championship that was! But I think it rained every day - soft Irish rain, but no less wet for all that!

But anyway, to bridge and more work related matters ... we are really starting to "ramp up" towards Shanghai and the World Championships, and the lists of teams, although incomplete as yet, is up on the site - click here to get to them.

The European Championships have come and gone and were, I gather, very successful - I wasn't their myself, but am meeting friends who were at the weekend so am looking forward to hearing all about them. You can find all the bulletins and results etc on the official event site of course. Congratulations to the teams and pairs who were "on the podium" - a full list of them can be found in the final bulletin.

And next week sees the start of the European Youth Championships in Jesolo, Italy, so for the youngsters and young at heart among you, take a look at the official event site for that as well and see how the Junior, Schools and Girls teams get on.

Simultaneous Pairs - well the BGB Summer Pairs is at the end of the month, and I will be putting up lists of competing clubs in a day or two so you can try and find one to play at if your own club isn't running it. Remember, it is green pointed, so well worth entering !

So - wherever you are have a great summer. And if you have been on holiday I hope it was as good as mine, and if you are going on holiday I hope it will be as good as mine !! But's let's hope for a bit of sunshine wherever and whatever you are doing.