Quiz night at the Dolphin tonight, and somewhat quieter than usual – our team halved, one ill, two others with family commitments, but the three of us sat down together, catching up on each other’s news. A wet weekend in Wales, writing group gossip, a team-mate struck down by the lurgy. The Am-Drams trickled in and we exchanged news with them, and a quartet of strangers sat at Tim’s table – luckily for them, Tim was on hols otherwise they would have had to move. Our diagonally across the road neighbours sat on what used to be George’s table (he shuffled off to the great pub in the sky many yeas ago) In the cross benches (the bar which ran between our end and the public bar at the other end, a reference to the seats between those of the government, and opposite those of the opposition) Down the far end were various others, including Mark and his team.
As I’ve mentioned before, the quiz has two rounds of twenty- five random questions, the answers written on the randomly numbered 5×5 answer grid. The answers are read out in numerical order and prizes are awarded to the first team to get a horizontal/diagonal/vertical line of correct answers. A prize is given to the team with the highest score at the end.
We were somewhat depleted, but we were joined for a few questions by the legend who is John Churchill, a pub regular. We did well, but not that well, but enjoyed ourselves none the less. It was halftime, and a selection of sizzling hot, straight from the oven pizzas arrived on the bar to sustain us. Round 2 – one of our team having departed because she was tired after an exciting weekend (lightweight!! 😉 )We were full of hope, and the Poet Macaque, a worthy tam mate, not only got a prize for the line, but a prize for the most correct answer.
Well satisfied, we bade our fellow competitors farewell and strode into the night, champions! (well, Macaque was!) It’s great to win, but even if we hadn’t, we would still have had a great evening – however,, we won and felt mightily chuffed.
Lois Elsden 