Boston Balderdash

Post date: Dec 4, 2016 3:53:34 PM

Remember the last installment our 'Friendly Frolics' weekly which ended up with 'Boston next, watch this space.' Well it happened, They announced midweek that they would only be able to bring sixteen players to compete against our twenty four. O.K. there was no way we were going to tell eight of our players sorry you can't play in order to even the numbers up. So, here we go again, we agreed to lend them four players and play five rinks of four.

Then would you believe it, yes of course you would, on Friday one of ours dropped out. Frantic phone calls followed. You can't imagine how many people didn't answer, or had their answerphones switched on, oh yes you can ! And of course those who did answer were either going to a relative's funeral, who they have never heard of before, or were having to feed next door's cat ( not all day surely ?). Anyway one was eventually trapped, we mean persuaded to play. Case closed yippee !

What a lovely morning it was first thing on Saturday, until the phone rang. "Hello, Dave here at Boston, I've had some more drop and can only bring nine, sorry mate. "Mate ? ? ? ! ! !. After recovering the phone from behind the holly bush in the garden, good job the door was open, ah, right, yes, um, we'll get back to you. Put the phone down, bang one's head on the wall and scream" I don't believe it !"

The phone rings again, one of ours can't make it. Forgot he promised to take his granddaughter shopping. Is senile dementia setting in ? After counting to ten one hundred times and reciting every times table there is to come up with a formula, Maggie, who has now disappeared behind the back of the settee comes up with the answer. Let's do it like they it the roll-ups, let them draw for rink numbers and playing positions out of the bag, and the highest scoring rink is the winner and just to show there's no hard feelings we'll throw a couple of bottles of wine in as prizes. Job done.

After doing a four mile detour to get out of the mile long traffic jam at Tallington railway crossing we arrive at the club to find only seven instead of nine 'Bostonites'. Their captain Dave could only shrug. Then with ten minutes to go the phone rang, the missing pair from the town with the stump had just arrived at the Boston Club, they thought they were playing at home.

The good news, the winners of the wine were three of our players. The bad news, none of them drink wine. Could it get any worse? Oh, yes it could, oh no it couldn't. Ah well it's nearly the pantomime season. Have a Merry Christmas.

Denis Stapleton