BRIDGE PLAYERS!  THEY ALWAYS HAVE AN EXCUSE ........( My fondest memory by Bridgemeister Gibson )


Many years ago I was playing in a team of eight intercity match away at York. As the away team we all had sitting seats with the home side moving tables. Boards were passed on clockwise in sets of two , with imp scoring up taking place after each round.
When the match was over there was a quick review of where the match had been won or lost , and which pairs were worthy of praise or recriminations. One pair I recall had a wretched time coming back with some shocking scores. So when one was asked " what went wrong ? " we all heard the best excuse ever made.
" Listen you lot......we were in a downstairs room on our own with no other tables in play. So we didn't get any opportunities to listen into what was being said at nearby tables about the hands heading our way. "
I never knew whether the answer was a tongue-in-cheek comment or a genuine observation about the form of cheating that goes on in such matches. But as an excuse it certainly made me smile.