Nice people

T minus 10 days...

I’ve received a wealth of emails from the four corners of the USA and all over the world, some of whose senders are geographically challenged. Others have simply written to wish me luck - like the lady from Texas who attached this team photo. I bet there are no Scrabble club T shirts in boring old Blighty. Americans are full of enthusiasm for any kind of pastime and put a lot of effort into their endeavours. They don’t do things half-heartedly and moanily like us Brits. I wonder if there are Scrabble cheerleaders?

Oh dear, my average dropped to 13.7 mph yesterday. It was mostly sunny, yet the temperature has been dropping every day and coming home I pulled my jumper sleeves over my hands. So, my steed took me south-east, through David Livingstone’s birthplace, Blantyre (Blanta, with a soft T), Hamilton, the luscious Clyde Valley, Lanark and I meant to finish in New Lanark, but somehow ended up in Carstairs, where the State Asylum is. Maybe that IS where I’ll end up. New Lanark is one of my favourite places in Scotland (http://www.newlanark.org/) mainly for its stark-itechture and the riverside walk to the waterfalls.

One of my prospective opponents in Seattle has sent me the two and three letter words from the American list. I need to try and learn these and unlearn excluded SOWPODS words.