Our bridge four was getting close to its end by then, but despite the gulf in motivation and bridge quality between the four of us, we persevered with occasional social evenings of bridge.
Maz sent me this message after the 15th:
Many thanks for the ‘last supper’ last night – as always extraordinarily good and I ate too much.
Thanks too for my memento of the bridge 4 that has been going for 19 years I think (as one of original founder members).
If I have time I will try and do a short quiz for you at mine.
See you then and give Janie a big hug
Do I remember what I cooked? Do I heck. Do I even remember doing some sort of a quiz? Nope.
We crossed the river and played at Hampton Wick (Maz’s new place) for the first time. Some business on the e-mail about Andrea driving and co-ordinating pick-ups around North-West/West London.
My thank you note to Maz was not too revealing – it read:
Many thanks for a most enjoyable evening last night. Excellent meal and, as always, good company. Nice to see your new home, too, which I thought was very you; you seem very happy there. Shame we didn’t get the cards but you can’t have everything I suppose.
Looking forward to the next one.
20 November 2008
The next one turned out to be at Barmy Kev’s place. I supplied the card table and accoutrements, so must have driven there. Kev’s mother-in-law Mabel was in situ, as Kev’s set up e-mail revealed:
Ironically Olivia’s mum still with us, will be for a year now, don’t ask, but will find a way round this and no rowdy behaviour after 11pm.
Ged , if you can supply table cards , scoreboards etc, this will help.
Subsequently, by which I mean some 10 years later, Kevin and Mabel achieved more than 15 minutes of fame when a video about Kevin and Mabel’s use of a “Magic Table” to help people with dementia went viral – some 3 to 4 Million views at the time of writing (January 2019):
But back then, it was simply bridge with dinner en famille.
I can’t find any post match analysis (by which I mean bridge match, not magic table match) on the e-mail trails, so perhaps we didn’t get much in the way of magic bridge hands on the table that night. I do recall a very enjoyable evening, though and the e-mail wires were certainly busy trying to set up the next one for the January.
Thursday 22 May 2008: Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner
This was at “Rogues” in Maida Vale, as was the norm in those days. John Random did the shout out and only provided limited feedback afterwards:
A big thank you to all of you who turfed yourselves out for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner despite the cyclone, earthquake, Crewe and Nantwich Bye-Election and anything else that might have put off lesser mortals. To those of you who didn’t make it, you were much missed. Till the next time…
It will have been fun.
Tuesday 27 May 2008: Net At Lord’s
The e-mail trail tells me that this was Chas, Adam, Mat and me. Here’s my shout out/reminder:
Just a note to remind you all that we are netting this evening. See you at HQ Indoor School in whites just before 18:00. Adam – FYI – I’ve bought and am bringing my helmet after our last net together! Although, having seen Mr Flynn on Friday, I’m not sure I’ll be trying to hook the head-high stuff anyway!! Best Ian
The “Flynn” reference is to a Kiwi player named Daniel Flynn who was not spared the need for dental work by his helmet – see video below:
I think that net was my first go with a helmet. I had decided to wear one from that 2008 season on, after a couple of near misses the previous season – at least one of which was at the hands of Adam, albeit in outdoor nets. Chas commented afterwards:
Great being at Lords last night, but am I the only one suffering from multitude of aches and pains from the cricket net?… …The helmet was ‘interesting’ although I did notice others wearing them as well.
Thursday 29 May: Bridge At Andrea’s Place
The four was again Andrea, Barmy Kev, Maz and me. Pre bridge e-mail chat between me and Barmy Kev revolved around Kev being available early and wanting to meet for a pre match drink, whereas I was a mixture of unwilling and unable to do that. My final word on what seemed to have been quite a stressy day:
I need to clear some work before coming out this evening so won’t be around until 20:00 as expected.
Also expect to drive, as could do with a detox and will be pushed for time.
Afterwards, my e-mail to Andrea:
Just a note to thank you very much for your hospitality on Thursday. Super meal and good bridge too. Is Kev still there? Looking forward to seeing you at the next one.
Andrea’s e-mail back to me:
V funny! Kev obviously likes it here as he turned up early and stayed about 20 mins after you lot left. See you at the next one – and don’t forget to get your visa.
The reference to a visa must mean that Maz had just moved South of the river and that we were going to play at her new place next.
Despite the fact that Andrea and I are both “propa sarf” people…”deep sarf” in Andrea’s case (Sutton), by 2008, after so many years north of the river, we needed metaphorical visas when venturing sarf.
Our regular bridge four had rather fallen into decline at this time. Gavin decided he was too busy running Charing Cross Hospital or something…
…and we struggled to find a fourth.
Then, in early February, I wrote to Andrea:
It was good to speak the other evening, Andrea. We discussed a possible bridge. I have a fourth person “quasi-lined-up”, although without dates of course. I propose mine as the venue on that basis.
Andrea replied:
Good to speak to you too, Ian & thanks for finding a 4th – gather his name is Quasi!
Strangely, though, Barmy Kev really can play bridge. No, I don’t mean, “is someone who has more or less picked up the rules of the game of bridge and is therefore marginally more effective at the game than plankton”…
…I mean “Barmy Kev can REALLY play bridge”, in that it was almost embarrassing to have someone who can play at his level grace the kitchen table of people who play at our level.
Still, Kev likes good food, good wine and good company and my regular group could do all that as well as the best of ’em, so this arrangement proved to be more than a one off. I’m not sure that it was a “more than the fingers of one hand” off, but it was not a one off.
Maz, who I guess is now really quite good herself as she was keen to progress beyond our kitchen table stuff, chimed in afterwards to say:
…thanks so much for great evening last night – food and bridge was great. Good that Kev is so good.
I get the impression that I didn’t play so well. Message from Kev:
I would like to thank you for your hospitality last night. The food , drink, company was excellent. The Bridge-well you can’t have everything. Anyway, all good fun and would definitely be up for next one.
My reply to Kev:
It was good to see you. I didn’t think your bridge was that special last night – rust and vino veritas don’t mix it seems! My bridge I thought was exemplary.
Andrea’s thank you note, read so many years later (January 2019) made me chortle:
Just wanted to thank you for a really lovely time the other night. Great to see you, fab food, wonderful company and bridge wasn’t bad, either. Just one Q – when looking for a new bridge partner, was your criteria to find someone who is the complete opposite to Gavin in every conceivable way??
Note to Kev: Andrea unquestionably meant that kindly. It’s just that you REALLY aren’t like Gavin, in any conceivable way.
On the field of play, Gavin would have worn whites, not pinks, for a start
18 January 1997: John Random (Burns) & Jenny Mill At Sandall Close
I think this was the first time we had dinner with those two. Janie dutifully wrote in her diary “fish only, no meat” so my guess is that we did indeed eat fish.
Who would have thought that, inadvertently, we’d see those two for a meal almost exactly 25 years later, but we did indeed go to their place in Bromley for a super meal on Sunday 16 January 2022.
24 January 1997: Bridge At Maz’s Place
I’m guessing here, but the four would probably have been Maz (obvs), me (also obvs), Andrea and Tessa at that time.
I think Maz was living in Becklow Road, Acton by then.
The eating and drinking will have been as central to the evening as the bridge, if not more so.
25 January 1997: Dinner At Stuart & Cathy’s Place
Stuart Kent (“Little Mick” Kent, my dad’s cousin’s son) and his partner Cathy Andrews.
They lived in Muswell Hill in a rather eccentric-looking penthouse apartment designed in an uber-1970s garish style, which they had inherited from the previous owner – an unusual look they clearly liked & had enhanced.
In truth I don’t much remember this party, but we both recorded it in our diaries with faithful addresses and how to get there notes, so I’m sure we went.
The Loose Box is now (writing January 2020) in Horseferry Road, but in those days for sure was Brompton Road.
No clues about where Janie and I had our dinner 23 September. Perhaps I cooked for her but I did have an early flight to Geneva the next morning, which is one of the reasons we dined together on the Thursday, as I was due to stay over in Geneva for the weekend and then the following week.
Actually, more likely I’d have got us both a Chinese takeaway from May’s place (The Park Inn) that night – I’d been on a busy day that day and can’t imagine that cooking would have made sense.
My diary shows me playing bridge with Daniel & Marianne on the Friday evening (probably also with Andrea).
Then it shows spending the day on Saturday with Michael Mainelli writing “Zen Things You Wanted To Know About Business”…which was the working title of the subsequent hit book Clean Business Cuisine...
…what do you mean, haven’t read it?
It’s as topical now as it was when it was written…
Anyway, it looks as though Janie worked all day on the Saturday and there is no sign in the diaries of us seeing each other on the Sunday. There are some electronic signs of me working on my canon of NewsRevue material ahead of the Christmas run, that Sunday.
I went to see this show with Andrea, Maz and Daniel – normally the “three musketeers” of our bridge four.
Not sure whose idea it was to see this show…but I’ll guess that Maz was the ringleader for the trip.
I don’t remember much about it, but the diary says we met at 6:30 so I guess we had a drink before the show and a quick meal afterwards. I’m guessing The Mayflower Chinese, as I have a hint of a memory of dining with those three at that place, but I could be wrong.
Andrea or Maz might remember. Even Daniel might. I’d love to learn of any lingering memories from that evening.
My log simply says “fun”, which I recall it was. A rather silly show, of course, but that’s the idea of it.
