I arrived at 8:00 and surveyed the scene.  The fruits of the labours of my team of  slaves on Tuesday afternoon/evening were evident. The rooms looked brilliant.

The frenzy of lunch ordering, fee payment and new entries for the pairs was over and play began. Everyone turned up, including players from the fire-ravaged Blue Mountains area.

Various teething problems with the venue were sorted out.  Even the air conditioning coped with an oppressively hot and windy day.

The concept of the eBulletin was being embraced, and the site now shows player contributions, with more requests for login and password coming in.

All was good.  Then Ross Currin from the Restricted Teams fell ill.  An ambulance call was  lodged, but because the service has been stretched by the bush-fire situation, it had still not arrived some hour later.  Yet another call  to 000 revealed that the ambulance was a further half hour away.  So we drove Ross to Canterbury Hospital, where I am pleased to report that he was attended to immediately.

P.S.  I am even more delighted to report that he will be back at the table today!                                              

Back to the venue for a final preparation of the tables for Thursday.                                                                     Ross