Stranger danger

T minus 15 days.

Nearly seven hours sleep! I’ve been phoning more potential opponents. A lot of them emailed their phone numbers months ago and I have only just got back to them now. A typical conversation goes like this. Me : “Hello, is that Hank?” Hank : “Yes it is…” “Hello, this is Adrian Keefe.” “Yes?” “About the Scrabble.” Scrabble… Oh hello!” Then they are always enthusiastic and friendly. It has amazed me at how many have offered accommodation to a complete stranger. Over here we learn of mass murders and gun ownership, but obviously most of the country is peaceful and the majority of the populace trusting. That being said, one woman did offer her apartment with the proviso, “As long as you don’t seem too strange.”

Some of these Scrabble players are very keen. One man mentioned a tournament he goes to where 28 games are played in two days. 14 games a day… I think he said they started at 7.30 am and played late into the night. A lot of them have talked about SOWPODS (an international word list used by most countries) and the American word list, which doesn’t include many of the British words, especially of the two and three letter variety. I’ve got a lot of cramming to do on top of everything else…