EDitorial ± 4-Aug-2005

One Town Is Very Like Another

Unexpected call from a friend at work late morning: his wife had made him some sarnies - bless - so did I want to meet him over in the coffee lounge? Yep, said I, sounds like a plan: I can always tackle that Times Su Doku another time.

Ten minutes later, a second call: what about if he brought over his chess set - did I want a lunchtime game? Now there's an offer you don't get every day.

Quarter to one saw us scoffing sandwiches and laying out the miniature board, me trying to remember the last time I'd played. Couple of moves in, I queried the position of the knights which were inside the bishops: we agreed to reset & restart from square one.

Terribly civilised way to spend a lunch hour. Could have been somewhere much more exotic like Washington's Dupont Circle, f'rinstance.

He attacked, I defended. He didn't want to exchange queens. Then I spotted an opening and went after him, causing him to think it was checkmate, which it wasn't. Couldn't sustain the offensive, however, and eventually capitulated. Good game, as Bruce used to say.