Did you get wined and dined ? I did !

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 ...

...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 !

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

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!

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 !

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 ...

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 !!