Busy doing nothing !

Not quite true in fact, but it looks as though I have been very quiet this week. In fact I have been doing a lot of background work on the EBU site, plus getting everything packed for the Charity Challenge Sims so the post office can pick it up this afternoon and get it all on its way. And I am still battling with getting the regulations for Shanghai ready for approval .
Mark has been doing some funky programming to make the sims stuff easier for me to use and I can't wait for that to be ready - he really is a star. And Emale has spent most of the week asleep on top of the radiator at the back of my desk (or in my bed when he thinks he can get away with it!)

It has been fun on the home front though ! We have been decorating our hall way, which runs the whole length of the station, and the carpet is now fitted and the new bookshelves delivered, and very nice they look too. Not only that but we have also had a lovely new sideboard in the dining room - solid oak and very heavy but it is great to have it and be able to store lots of bits and pieces at long last, instead of having them stashed in corners. Isn't it amazing how long it takes to get a place straight - we have been here for 12 years and we are still doing stuff !

The birds are all making spring type noises (did you know that people believed that birds chose their mates on 14 February ?!), and I have a couple of daffodils out which is ridiculously early.

And it is Friday which means I have the weekend to look forward to with my daughter and her husband coming over for dinner on Saturday which will be great.

Lovely white stuff !

It is snowing and I love it ! But I am lucky - living and working in a Railway station means I only have to walk across the platform to get to work :-) Here is a picture of our office in the snow ... pretty isn't it ! I am sure I could get the car out and get to the shops if I needed to, but it is much more fun to play at being completely snowed in and dig some chilli out of the freezer to have with baked potatoes tonight. The cats have reacted in different ways - Taggie, the old lady, is happily sitting outside and getting whiter. Phercad, who is quite barmy, dashes in and out in a breathless, wild-eyed fashion, gasping at the strangeness, and Emale, who just hates the cold (and the wind and the heat and almost any other weather conditions) is firmly ensconced behind my computer where the heat from the radiator comes up over my desk. He complains loud and long if it goes off, and will undoubtedly spend the day there. Click here to learn more about the cats if you are interested!

Anyway, that's not what I really wanted to tell you about today .. I have just been sending out information about the European Open Championships to be held in Antalya in June. And "open" in this case means anyone can play as long as they are approved by their own National Federation. It is being held at the World of Wonders resort and more information about the event itself, together with details of how to register, can be found on the EBL Website.

I have also been updating the pages about Shanghai and the World Championships in September - click here to see when the zonals are, which teams are going to play and even the first set of names! And don't forget - the World Transnational Teams is another Open event that everyone can play in provided they are approved by their Federation!

Now it is time to go and clear a bit of the platform area so I can feed the birds, then it is back to work on the EBU website which is my main "job of the day"

Oh that wonderful smell of toner !

Well, the BGB Sims have been finalised, and the results are printed - we have two printers here in the office and Mark gets so cross with me when I am doing the results because I take them both over completely and he can't print anything for about two days ! Now we are getting them all into the envelopes with the heat winner prizes etc ready to wing them off to you in the next couple of days. The office has that warm and wonderful smell of toner and hot printers - luckily it has been mild and I have been able to have the door open for a little while.

In the meantime I am busy getting the paperwork ready for the EBU Spring Sims and the World Wide Sims, as well as getting hands to the commentators for the EBU and BGB Autumn Sims, nagging the commentator for the Summer Sims, looking ahead to the Children in Need, tripping over the boxes of booklets for the Charity Challenge Sims, and waiting for the delivery of the booklets for the BGB Spring sims so I can trip over those as well!

Fortunately for me (and the family) none of this impinges on my kitchen, which is a Work Free Zone - I love cooking and it is the time of my day when I can relax and be creative ... seems I make a reasonable hash of it, as my friends like coming here to eat ! Last night it was honey & soy chicken parcels served with cardamom rice and stir-fried vegetables ... yummy.

So - back to the sims I guess ... ho hum !

Monday Monday

Having spent the weekend painting the hall, it is back to my desk with a vengeance this morning.

The WBF Charity Pairs start tonight - I hope we manage to raise lots of lovely money for the WBF School - Results and information is here, and you can make a donation even if you can't play!

There is also a mass of information to go onto the EBU site and I will be working on that this afternoon, then it is onto the Regulations for Shanghai, deep joy and an update of the pages about the World Championships. I will post a message here when I have done the update, so do keep coming back and having a look.

Starting Point!

Well, everyone else is doing it - there are blogs appearing left, right, centre - every which way. So, I thought I would give it a rock ! It may well prove to be a great way to communicate, with bridge news and info, and even (oh vanity) for a way to tell you about about myself and my work both in and out of the bridge scene.

And a quiet Saturday seemed like a good time to start - I am not really working, just doing a bit of tidying up of the files on the computer, and getting rid of some rubbish, dealing a few sets of boards for Simultaneous Pairs, a job that always slugs the computer I do it on, and I thought - hey, why not, let's see what this blogging is all about!

I will use this blog to try and keep you informed of some of the things that are happening in the bridge world, but you may find it interspersed with rather more personal stuff, so if you find that boring ... well, don't read it !