Many of you will know that I am a competitive bridge player and play in events at county and national level and even sometimes overseas. My usual partner is Val – this is Val and I winning the Scottish Ladies Pairs Championship in 2017
Every so often Val and I look ahead at forthcoming events and decide what we fancy playing in. And many months ago we spotted an online international women’s team event being run by the European Bridge League (EBL). It looked great for us – a chance to play against some of the world’s top women players from the comfort of our homes.
As always before committing to any future event I always check the football fixtures. This isn’t as easy as it sounds as the fixtures are all released as if everyone is going to play matches which kick off at 15.00 on a Saturday. In reality matches are moved (to suit TV schedules) and Liverpool rarely play Saturday afternoons.
For the weekend of the EBL bridge event we were due to be at home against Spurs.
The timing of the bridge event was such that it was unlikely that I could go to the match even if it was moved so I resigned myself to missing it. So we found ourselves team mates, gave ourselves a team name (The Yorkshire Puddings) and duly entered. I had a chat with Anna and sold my Spurs ticket to one of her mates (face value of course)
So the football season progressed and Liverpool were looking well placed to win their 20th title …. and then a little thought flickered through my mind….. what if they sealed it at the match against Spurs? And it soon became obvious that that was indeed what was going to happen. I was gutted and looked at my options. I could demand the ticket back but that would only help if I could find someone to replace me in the bridge event. We made a last minute attempt to add players to our team, with no luck. So I just had to take it on the chin.
On the Sunday of the match I travelled to my mums on the Wirral and played for most of the day there. Then I parked up at Hooton Station and played the last three matches from inside the car there. A first for me I think, playing bridge in a car
But it meant that I could catch a train to Liverpool and get up to the ground before the final whistle.
So I took in some of the manic atmosphere outside the ground but obviously it wasn’t the same as being inside the ground. Despite being in a huge throng of people I wasn’t with any friends or family so when the final whistle went and we were officially champions I had no one to hug.
Anna was in the ground and obviously stayed for a while to celebrate with the players.
I waited patiently outside with mixed emotions- elated at the win but sad not to be sharing it with her. I wanted her to stay and take it all in but I also wanted her to come out and share some of the excitement with me. I’d like to have been able to be more generous and be grateful that she was having the experience even though I was missing out.
Eventually we met up and celebrated together
We had a couple of drinks, and then I drove Anna and her friend home and then went back to mine. I couldn’t justify drinking a whole bottle of champagne on my own so I finished off a bottle of red wine and watched Match of the Day and whatever other coverage I could find.
So Liverpool have won their 20th title and I don’t feel that I have really been part of the celebrations at all yet.
But there’s four more weeks of the season to go and we can relax and party throughout those weeks. Anna and I are planning to share some champagne when we next meet and we have a mega weekend planned in Liverpool with many friends and family for the last weekend of the season.
Oh and the bridge event? Well we did enjoy it and we ended as the highest placed English team despite the English National Women’s Team also playing. But really I would have preferred to be at Anfield.
Pearl Blog 3 