SO WHAT GETS UNDER YOUR NOSE THEN ?............ ( Article by Carp )

At my local club all kinds of table incidents occur.....most are very petty and trivial altercations, but others can end up a little more serious. However, one recent incident seemed to have got blown up out of all proportion, in that a third party put in a complaint, which resulted in an initial investigating committee requesting a re-enactment of the event. Strangely, this involved only one of the original four actors.......namely the complainant, who by chance also happened to be the club's senior tournament director. Well so much for a balanced and impartial view of what actually took place.

The altercation like so many others that occur at bridge tables ( the world over ) involved two characters, who have never been able to see eye to eye. Call it a clash of two strong personalities. Anyway, over the years each has made complaints about the other's use of provocative words and/or gestures. But here lies the crux of the problem. Was the alleged provocation a spur-of-the-moment act both unnecessary and uncalled for......or was it induced by the victim's earlier indiscretions ? In most cases of self-induced provocation, victims have only themselves to blame. Indeed, this problem inevitably comes to light, whenever the accused decides to defend a complaint by making a counter-complaint of his/her own .

Anyway, the upshot of this story was this : the accused separated the bridgemate from its keeper, frustrated with it not being put into a position where he could easily read the entered score. What followed was a theatrical and exaggerated gesture, which involved the bridgemate being moved around the table in a wide upward arc.... sweeping it right under the noses of all those sitting at the table. The message was obvious....... " NOW, we can all read the damn score ". So it seems that in this particular case, it was the bridgemate which got under the nose of his long standing rival........ but it was the nature of this petulant behaviour, which really got under the nose of the complainant.

No wonder Bigot-Johnson sees the world of bridge as bizarre !