Lisa,s Blog
Here we are…the 25th July and the British Chess Champs are on in Sheffield.
Not being a chess player, there’s absolutely nothing about chess here…just the wee jottings of time well spent. I also have 5 books with me.
We arrived late on Sat 23rd,…day before yesterday,…On the Sunday we had a lovely day in town. There was lots happening , what, with an open air festival (Tramlines) in the city, lots of markets from which to eat interesting foods…so why did I choose the German sausage station?...Aye, stick with what you know…We also checked out Ponds Forge…just at our bus stop…How good is that??
Anyways, we stayed in a Travelodge a little out of town (22 bus takes you there)…next to a petrol station …lovely little site.
Today we moved to the Travelodge in the city. We went straight to the venue, though, to check out if the pairings were up. They were, and we met fellow Scots…the Roys, Ali, Zak, Ann and Charlie, the Congalton that is David, the Espinosa’s …poor Monica was NOT well, and the MacQueens…Andy and Calum. Both Calum and myself were a wee bitty ‘barrased when a nice man from England thought I was his Mum. Calum was a star and went over Kai’s game after the sess. I did spy other faces from North of the Border, names I’m not too sure of, though….Ooh ..Clemet Sreeves.
After depositing our stuff at the new Travelodge, Kai and I went on to check out what was happening. We stumbled upon a Luminarium. “What??”, I hear you cry. Tis an inflatable structure made with 0.5mm thick rubbery stuff, full of different tunnels, lit up in all colours on the inside, as you wander round to the sound of…whale music?... A lovely experience. After our yoga and meditation inside the rubber palace, Kai decided it was time for a swim.
A cool time we had in the leisure pool…no competition swimming for us…lazy river and surf’s up. I was nearly drowned several times by my son, not to mention the no splashing rule ‘cause of contact lenses…How ridiculous am I?
Tuesday 26 th. A long day at the venue, but oh, here I am rubbing shoulders with chess royalty. Nigel Short, David Howell, Michael Adams…I shook Stuart Conquest’s hand today. Pity the snooker’s not on…I could have nipped down to The Crucible and rekindled the love I had for Jimmy White at 17, when I juped my Art Higher to see him open up a Jeans store in Aberdeen’s Union Street. Aahhh. It was Kai’s call for dinner tonight. Mcdonalds it was, then straight back to watch The Fantastic Four.
Wednesday 27 th. All well with the Pannwitz machine…only one game today and he was READY. The brat came out giving me the thumbs down and on his approach to me, very slowly turned it up. Oh, the angst…. Anyways, after a Ponds Forge stodgy,.. sturdy lunch,.. ye can tell they cook for athletes, we went to watch Yogi Bear. GUFFAW, Guffaw, Booboo….and then launched into the leisure pool …again. This time it was busy, very busy. A whole new meaning to wading through treacle. Kai had one final slap on the chops, and that was it. Thank goodness. Nipped into the hall…poor Calum’s opponent was female and rather attractive…hope it goes well, oh, and Clement had a big game against a G.M, or I.M, so he’s doing braw.
Dinner from Marks and Sparks tonight, we’re thinking of you, Robert…finished off by a wee bit of chess prep for the morrow….he has two games.
