Ticket To Ride

World Bridge Games,  Sunday September 4

Women's Teams, Day One

Having safely arrived at the Scandic Hotel, our haven for the next fortnight, one of our most important tasks was to ascertain how we would travel to and from the rather grand playing venue - the Hala Stulecia.

The number 2 tram seemed to be a viable option and we worked out the details of the journey.  All we needed were the tickets.   The first attempt to buy them failed due to too much sunlight on the screen.   David and I waited until darkness fell to try again.  We could read the screen but we were interrupted by a very angry sounding man, yelling at us in Polish.

Unfortunately, he was dressed in Police uniform!

We could not understand him, which seemed to infuriate him even more.  I remember thinking that I had had better days.   He demanded documents but we did not have them.   We apologised but he continued to reprimand us.   After a few minutes he rushed back to his car. Was he about to return with some handcuffs or maybe even a gun?   Fortunately, he drove away.

We managed to buy the tram tickets and this time, we waited for the little green man to appear before we crossed the road!

Today we will play Spain, Brazil (on BBO) and Jordan.  Armed with our tickets to ride, I am hoping that today's bridge will be less traumatic than yesterday's ordeal.

Derek Patterson