Tag Archives: chess

Extravagant lifestyle

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Ralph at the Adam, with a bit of Bruce

Over a week since I last posted, which can mean only one of two things: nothing much has happened, or I’ve been extremely busy. Reader, it is the former, although it did seem there was plenty happening at the time. In the last few days I have been getting some exercise in a bid to lose weight before Dot’s food-counting regime goes over the top. Have lost a couple of pounds following walks, mainly in the Mousehold area, and a bit of gardening and clambering around in the loft (where, incidentally, there was no sign of water incursion). Today I walked radically back from Joe’s after a couple of hours’ chess. Brisk wind, but sunny. Dot has been at Barbara’s working on her P4C and should be back shortly. Colin is due to come and survey a couple of garden jobs at around 6pm, and then Dot embarks on a Girls’ Night Out at the Greens, which sadly clashed with our Tuesday Group, and the Tuesday Group lost. A certain member of it suggested that the male members of it should have a Men’s Night Out, but as I can’t imagine anything worse than going out with a crowd of men, I was less than enthusiastic and will be having a Tim’s Night In.

Most of the time I have been catching up with financial matters and e-mails, as well as compiling the rota for St Augustine’s, which is a bit tricky as certain people who shall be nameless forget when they’re going to be away, and then remember just too late. I am in the process of selling some shares to fund our extravagant lifestyle, and I have persuaded KLM to send us our e-tickets, which should have arrived about a month ago. I shall soon have to sort Andrew’s money out.

Our former scanner is no more. It is nailed to the loft. It is a dead scanner. Happily, friend Vicky M had given us a scanner she no longer needs, and I am working out how to make it function properly. It is decidedly promising.I decided to follow some advice I saw online and not load the scanner software but use Image Capture on Snow Leopard. Result! Now I am looking out for someone with a VHS player they don’t need. Ours has bitten the dust following an ejection problem. I know how it feels.

Highlight, possibly, of the past week was the visit of Ralph and Lynne Martin, back for a month from the Seychelles and in the process of selling their house in Hingham. I warned them about the space-time distortion, but they went ahead anyway. Dot and I met Bruce at the station and we walked to the Adam and Eve, mainly along the riverside path. There we met the aforesaid Martins, together with a late-arriving Robin L, and had lunch together. The landlady of the Adam and Eve is Rita, who used to be at the EDP social club, and she amazingly remembered me. An altogether pleasant hour or two, and not a bad pie.

Leaving aside our haircuts, other exciting events included Dot’s having her MX5 folding roof cleaned (after we had navigated through a massive hold-up on Aylsham Road caused by a man sitting in a van surrounded by cones and traffic lights), which gave her a lot of satisfaction. And of course the DCC meeting on Thursday, at which we achieved a full house. Because Matt wants to come on the DCC, I am standing down and will be co-opted on. This will give me an excuse to miss a few meetings by saying I can’t vote, so I might as well not come. This is different to the forthcoming General Election, at which I can vote, but might as well not come.

Avoided losing at chess last night by getting a winning position and agreeing a draw. Well, you never know what’s going to happen, do you?

Legendary jackets

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Back on the ground, and with shiny new wheels.
Back on the ground, and with shiny new wheels.

Haven’t been out of the house today: spent quite a bit of time writing Christmas cards, which is admittedly a bit of a chore, but on the plus side, it is nice to know we have that many friends. I have to prepare a sermon for Sunday, but so far haven’t got much further than choosing the hymns; however, I do have one or two ideas that I shall probably feel compelled to share. Yesterday’s Tuesday Group had a new member, Katherine, and a total of ten, which is about the most we can handle and remain comfortable. Am getting to be quite a dab hand on jacket potatoes: you may think there is nowhere to go wrong with jacket potatoes, but mine are becoming legendary – that’s not far short of mythical.

On Monday I played probably the worst game of chess I’ve played for a long time, missing two easy wins and then failing to mate with king and rook against rook because I was just too short of time. So it was a draw, and we play again in the new year, because it was a knockout competition. I can’t believe the things I overlooked. Is this the beginning of the end?

Saw the doctor the same day, and kept him busy for about 20 minutes. Pretty reassuring generally. Earlier went into town to buy some Christmas cards. Charity cards in the Forum and the Assembly House were less than seductive, so I decided to try the Christian Resources Centre, which came up trumps, with some excellent Tear Fund cards. Walked back through the cathedral, taking in the new hostry (sic), which is quite impressive. On Sunday we had toyed with the idea of going to Paston for a medieval Christmas concert, but managed to resist the temptation.  Saturday night turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant when we invited the next-door neighbours round on the spur of the moment for nibbles and drinks. They hit both with some enthusiasm, and the conversation was good too.

Magical stars

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Experimental picture taken after dark at Aldeburgh and digitally altered in a pretty basic way. Quite like it.
Experimental picture taken after dark at Aldeburgh and digitally altered in a pretty basic way. Quite like it.

Awaiting the arrival of David and grandchildren: weather mild. Have just been out briefly to book Prezzo’s for lunch tomorrow. Earlier I cleared up some more leaves: I’m becoming something of an expert. Last night was a big success: for Dot’s birthday dinner we went with the Robinsons to the Norfolk Mead hotel at Coltishall and had an excellent meal. Also very relaxed and quiet, so pretty well perfect. Afterwards we came out to see a sky full of bright stars. Magical.

Have just finished my talk for Sunday on Christ the King. Found it difficult to prepare, because I kept getting bogged down in fascinating byways as to the true meaning of certain words in the Hebrew and Aramaic. Have rewritten first verse of Genesis to read: At source, God filled the skies and the earth as an ox moving the plough towards its mark. Not exactly traditional; I may not mention it tomorrow. On the other hand…

Managed to draw my chess game on Wednesday by winning a pawn in the opening and getting a big advantage, then letting my opponent off the hook. Quite happy really, because he’s graded higher than me. Drove the entire team down there, so very late back. Meanwhile, Dot went to a DCC meeting, so she had to tell me all about it. Result: very late in bed.

Lots of activity on internet about leaked e-mails from UEA climate scientists which seem to reveal fiddling of data and some rather unpleasant tactics to silence sceptics. Phil Jones of UEA has apparently admitted they’re genuine. Will be interesting to see how the BBC manages to ignore this. By ignoring it, I suppose.

Weird weather

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I believe it's called an acer. It's in our back garden.
I believe it's called an acer. It's in our back garden.

Odd feeling in the air. Dot is still under the weather with a cold and cough, but not enough to keep her in bed. Yesterday she went to see her aunt in North Walsham and had lunch in a pub at Gunton before going to see Carrie in the evening. Then today Barbara came round, and there was some pretty  intensive work on Philosophy4Children going on. Now she’s tired out again, unsurprisingly. The weather has been weird too. The weather man was rhapsodising about the mild weather, but because it’s been so damp and overcast, it’s seemed chilly, and we’ve had the electric fire on upstairs as well as the central heating. Haven’t been out today at all, but will have to step out of doors in a minute to put the rubbish and assorted recyclable material out. Tonight’s Tuesday Group was cancelled because of Dot’s indisposition. Friend in Henley on Thames was going into raptures about the glorious autumn weather.

Yesterday afternoon I did venture out for a walk and found a road less than a mile away where I had not been before: unmade-up, but not private, cutting down from Cotman Road to Thorpe Road, with good views over towards Whitlingham, which seemed very close. It’s outrageous that there isn’t a way to walk to Whitlingham from Thorpe: it would only need a bridge over the railway and the river, and you’d be in the country in no time. Ho hum. In the evening played chess against Broadland and managed to score the full point after my opponent tried too hard to win a drawn position and put a knight en prise.

Managed to write a few pages of a new Little story for Oliver. At the moment she’s on a sand dune near Blakeney. Or is she? In that case, where did the dolphin come from? I may have written myself into a corner, as Snoopy used to say.

Heady feeling

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Another picture from Lisa's party, with daughter Blossom bemused by her large portion of pizza. Or more accurately, the large plate of pizza that had inadvertently been placed in front of her.
Another picture from Lisa's party, with daughter Blossom bemused by her large portion of pizza. Or more accurately, the large plate of pizza that had inadvertently been placed in front of her.

Strange heady feeling at the moment. This could be down to some sort of virus, or the fact that I won a chess game this morning in 17 moves. I was playing Andy Pandian (oh yes I was), who was kind enough to come round to my house to play a much-postponed club knockout game. After a fairly innocuous opening he allowed a winning pawn sacrifice. In fact it was so winning that it wasn’t even a sacrifice.

After 13 f6, White must win a piece.
After 13 f6, White must win a piece.

Quite a relief after a series of long games, most of them lost, like the one yesterday against William Boulton of Norfolk & Norwich club, who is a really top-rate junior. Good game, but he had the edge almost all the time. One of my recent games has been annotated by our star annotator Mike Read, for inclusion in the January edition of En Passant, the Norfolk chess magazine. He is very complimentary, but as I suspected, I missed a couple of things. Using “couple” in a rather loose sense.

Spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday’s lunch, but then had a date with a curry on Magdalen Street. With the curry came Heather, Simon and Sam – Heather with a new dark-haired look, as well as a new no-smoking lifestyle, and a new intention to move in with Simon. Sam is very pleased with this, as it means he gets a larger room. They all go very well together. Good curry, too, at Ali Tandoori, where the waiters quickly become personal friends, which is sort of extremely nice and rather over-the-top at the same time. Had my usual Biryani, which was as usual good. Not much to eat at all yesterday. Caught up on phone calls, in-tray etc.

Dot is now off to see Barbara, leaving me to organise tonight’s Tuesday Group meal, which will be quite fun and extremely straightforward. When it comes to meals I only do straightforward. I may be earning a little money again soon. Three of my poems have been bought for a website, and a teacher has offered me a fee to go in and talk about poetry. I am also planning a course for church magazine editors with Anne Coomes, who runs the website in question. This will not be paid for initially but could lead to some income later. Dot’s accountant was round here yesterday finalising her accounts for the year. His daughter has written a book, and I was able to direct her to the right place to get some publicity in the EDP. I hope.

Weather is slightly warmer than yesterday, but very cloudy, in an anticyclonic sort of way.

Chess and darlings

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Dave, Julia and Dot on a fishing pier at Yarmouth. Low tide.
Dave, Julia and Dot on a fishing pier at Yarmouth. Low tide.

Clash between god-daughter’s wedding and Italian holiday appears to be resolved. I have made myself unpopular in Canada by pushing the holiday forward a week. Barbara has changed the villa dates, and I have e-mailed the hotel in Venice. Awaiting a reply, but should be OK. Have also just paid off the roof work, which is a relief. Glad that’s over.

Much has happened since I last posted. I had lunch with Lucy last Friday and conveyed Naomi to the station afterwards, for her onward journey back to Durham University. Lucy seems quite a bit better. Over the weekend I played in the Norfolk Chess Championship. I’d forgotten how tiring that is, and I’m still suffering from the after-effects. I played some good games, but only won one. As the people I lost to were all stronger than me, my grading wasn’t affected much. The tournament was in the Tithe Barn at Horstead – which would be a perfect venue if it had a couple more toilets. Handy for the chip shop, and tea and biscuits were free. Good atmosphere throughout: Norfolk chess players are pretty pleasant people – none more so than the winner, Mike Harris. He won on tie-break from Caius Turner, who I lost to in Round Two. I had lost to his father, Terry Turner, in Round One: used to play against him when I was at school. Took a bye in the fourth round so that I could go to church: happily it was also church lunch.

Dave and Julia have been with us since Monday, returning home after lunch today. The weather turned out to be much better than forecast,and we dodged what rain there was. Walked in the city on Monday afternoon and went to Caffe Uno for dinner. Yesterday we went to Yarmouth and the marvellous Time and Tide museum, followed by a snack in the Silver Darlings cafe, a walk on the seafront and a drive to Caister, where Julia apparently spent time in a caravan when she was a child. The seafront there now is bleak and unappealing, possibly the least appealing in Norfolk, though Happisburgh runs it close. Signs of dereliction everywhere, with walls and stone falling apart. People appeared to be living in the caravan park, but otherwise it was pretty empty. On the plus side, the car parking was free. Today we walked on Mousehold Heath, autumnal and soggy after overnight rain, and had lunch at Frankie and Benny’s after inspecting the new footbridge over the Wensum. Extensive research by Dot and Julia (they asked a workman) established that it was a swing bridge.

Chess and tea

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Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland
Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland

Just back from Poringland, where we enjoyed lunch with the Stedmans and Robinsons, followed by afternoon tea on the lawn – well on a table on the lawn. So you can tell that the weather is pretty warm, though it was turning chilly towards the end. We’ve known each other since the mid-70s, when Mick Stedman was a vicar in the Bramerton Group, and the Robinsons’ home was in Alpington, the adjoining village. We lived in Holly Bank at Yelverton for 12 years. Dot is about to go on a girls’ night out: she never stops.

Here’s the game I played last night:

1 c4 e5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 Nc3 Bc5 5 e3 0-0 6 a3 a6 7 Nge2 Re8 8 0-0 Ne7 9 d4 exd 10 exd Ba7 11 Bg5 Ng6 12 Nd5 c6 13 Nxf6+ gxf 14 Bf4?! d5 15 cxd cxd 16 Rc1 Bg4 17 f3 Qe7 18 fxg! Qxe2  19 Rc2! (Having foreseen the coming sacrifice) Bxd4+ 20 Qxd4 (Kh1 is also possible) Qxc2 21 Bh6! Re2 22 Bxd5 Ne5 23 Rxf6 (With all kinds of threats) Rd8 24 Rxf7!

Position after 24 Rxf7
Position after 24 Rxf7

Rg2+ 25 Bxg2 Qd1+ 26 Qxd1 Rxd1+ 27 Rf1 Rd8 28 Bd5+ Kh8 (If Rxd5, Rf8 is mate) 29 Rf8+ Rxf8 30 Bxf8 Nxg4 31 Bc5 Kg7 32 Bxb7 1-0. Of course, the most exciting possibilities never happen on the board.


Noble service

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Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a front assault on our house.
Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a frontal assault on our house.

I am surrounded by scaffolding and vehicles carrying ladders. The house is midway through its transformation, with nearly a half of the new bargeboards and fascia boards in place and the street nicely disrupted. The district manager of the company came round yesterday, and suddenly it became necessary to erect proper scaffolding at the top end of the house. This is also in progress as I write, with the scaffolding lorry at first blocking exit from the Wildlife Trust but now tight in behind the company van. Two cups of tea, two of coffee just delivered. Wife in south Norfolk, visiting a school and about to return for lunch if she can find somewhere to park. Autumn still in the air but in more benevolent mood, with rain threatening but holding off and the temperature up a bit. Hoping the wall doesn’t fall down as the scaffolders clamber over it.

The roof guys were here yesterday too, and completed quite a bit before dashing off to Watton to deliver a water butt. Dot was at Yarmouth for lunch with Anne and the perennial challenge of finding her way out of the town afterwards. For some reason this takes much longer than it should. We have consulted maps and plan a new approach next time, but I have to agree that the signs in Yarmouth are considerably less than helpful. # I put that # in because I just discovered how to do it on a Mac keyboard, which strangely doesn’t have it as a dedicated key. It’s alt+3, in case you were wondering.

Vicar Nicholas came round for tea. He is pretending not to be in the city, because he is still on sabbatical, but he made an exception for the tea and for going to see Quadrophenia with me at the Theatre Royal. He has just written the first draft of his book on Developing Consciousness, and has left it for me to look at. Quadrophenia was very impressive both musically and as theatre, with four actors/singers playing the lead role and some extremely clever direction. Always liked The Who, and the music was easily identifiable as theirs. The drummer was not Keith Moon, said Nicholas. He was correct. Keith Moon is dead. I did have this slight feeling while watching it that one attitude fostered by it – that a job serving other people is for some reason degrading – might be symptomatic of one of the faults in our society. Everyone wants to be served, but no-one wants to serve. Can’t work, can it? Service is a noble calling.

Tuesday was asbestos day, with a company from London coming up and identifying the guilty substance in its various guises, and then removing it. Much sucking of teeth at first, but it didn’t take them too long to get rid of it and head off back to Epping. Barbara V was also here, and she and Dot (with a little help from me) looked at how they were going to approach the publishing project centering on assemblies using Philosophy4Children. It was decided I would attempt to supply a series of stories based on six diverse characters. So I will attempt that. Inspiration, you may strike here.

I’ve been feeling a little tired since Monday evening, when I had a mammoth 71-move chess game against a guy from Thetford. I was at a disadvantage for most of it, but hung in until I had three or four minutes left and he had about one, when he made a slight miscalculation and I scraped a draw with an intermezzo check from my knight enabling me to get back and cover a pawn which had been about to queen. He was a bit upset, and so would I have been. As it was, I was delighted but so strung out that I found it very hard to sleep, especially as I was feeling a bit sick, for some reason. Still, I guess it was worth it. How can you tell?

Hot and cold

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Licensed reader Bridget Archer
Licensed reader Bridget Archer

Bizarre behaviour by weather. Yesterday it was probably the hottest it’s been all year. The car thermometer registered 29C as we passed through North Walsham on the way back from a visit to Lucy’s at Paston. Today at least 10C cooler: I made the mistake of wearing just a shirt and light pullover for a train trip to Wroxham, which meant I was decidedly chilly when I got there to wait for Dot and Jessie to arrive by car. So I started walking, and we coincided very quickly. After that I avoided standing around outside. We visited Wroxham Barns and had a meal (cheese baguette), then on to Jessie’s for a chat and further refreshment. Dot had driven out to meet Jessie at Frank’s residential home in Wroxham, but I wanted to get a bit of work done, so took the train. On the way back from North Walsham we got stuck behind a painfully slow Clio the whole way, with a persistent stream of cars from the other direction. Where is a machine gun when you need it?

Just kidding. I say that in case this site is being monitored  by the Government, who might mistake me for a terrorist. I am not a terrorist. I do not like terrorists. Or very slow Clios.

Been quite busy, actually. On Monday, Dot was in a high-level P4C meeting with Barbara at Metfield and got back almost too late to have her hair done. I decided to forgo the whole process, as my hair has not recovered from last time, when I went very short, and instead toddled off to the Norwich Print Fair PV in St Benedict’s, where I met Harriet, then Lisa, Annette and Mike. Oh, and Sandra. Had quick chat and look round – some good stuff on show – then on to the chess club for a Quickplay (10-min). Won the first two games, which is always a mistake, since you get paired against better players subsequently. The clever method is to lose the first game. I ended up playing all three of the best players in the club, and losing to them all. However, I did get another win, so ended up with 3/6, which is about what I usually end up with. Very good game in Najdorf Sicilian against Merv Hughes (not the Australian fast bowler).

Lunch with Lucy at Dayspring was followed by a very pleasant Tuesday Group gathering at the Archers’, featuring scrummy raspberry cheesecake left over from Sunday. Have just read The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig. Impressed. Not just with the story but its accuracy as regards chess.

9 May 2009

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Yes, it’s Dot again, setting out for a hen night with her friend Anne. Norwich on full alert. The hen night is for Anne’s daughter Sophie, who is getting married at the end of the month. Meanwhile, a quiet evening for me, which is just as well, as I’m not feeling at my peak. I’m back on antibiotics, this time long-term, in a bid to get rid of my urine infection. Sorry to keep mentioning it. It’s a bit painful today, which is unusual: normally it just makes me feel generally unwell. Hope for an upturn by tomorrow, when I’m leading and preaching, and probably leading prayers as well. Suspect no-one else is going to be there.

Anyway, I did win my chess game on Monday night, which gave me 5/8 in the tournament and possible promotion to the first division next year. The next day Dot and I embarked by train to Scarborough for an overnight stay. Very pleasant journey both ways (especially coming home) with everything running to time – or very nearly. Dave and Julia met us and we had a long talk at their apartment, then walked down the cliff path to the beach, which was beautiful, along the front to the harbour and back up to the station , where we caught the bus back to the apartment, using our free bus passes! Julia provided an Indian meal of suprising hotness. Slept well, and the next day we went to Thornton-le-Dale, a beautiful village sadly (or perhaps deliberately) undersold by its website. We went for a walk of just under two miles and managed to avoid the rain. Then to a farm shop / restaurant, where we had lunch, which consisted mainly of (very good) sandwiches. After a detour down the wonderful Forge Valley, not to be confused with the more famous Valley Forge, which is in another country and besides, the wench is dead. (Sorry – obscure literary reference). Then by a slightly devious route to Scarborough Station, where we caught the train we meant to and changed at Grantham. The conductor said Peterborough, but that would have been a mistake, as the train we took from York did not stop there and we would have arrived bewildered at Stevenage, which is not something you’d want to happen.

Since then I’ve been to the dentist to have a filling built up, which was far less painful than the cleaning I’d had done a week or so ago. And today we both had our hair cut. How exciting is that? Meanwhile I’ve been rushing around sorting out various matters, mainly financial, and have managed to write a sermon to boot. Well, not to boot exactly, although that could be the reaction. Weather has been a bit on the chilly side, but nothing too unseasonal. We’re hoping for summer next week, when the Murrays arrive by train from Canada. After catching the plane first, of course.

Keiron Pim did a big article in the EDP this week about Voicing Visions, the Norwich 20 Group art and poetry exhibition which opens next week. I was quoted extensively, and Sandra’s picture dominated the page. My poem was also used. Can’t grumble about that, can you?