In Grade 12 Community Rec they taught us how to play Bridge. There was snow shoeing, cross country skiing and kayaking. But what I remember was learning to play Bridge.. I was hooked, and so were my friends. For a preppy little group of middle class kids it was a little odd. Picture an episode of that 70’s show… There were basement parties complete with the beer, the smoke, the music…. and then we would play Bridge?

The Grads had a room within the school with tables, chairs and couches. We were allowed to hang out there and we played Bridge.. I, in fact stopped going to class.. I wasn’t stealing cars or shoplifting… I was playing Bridge.. I remember my Biology teacher came down mid class and asked if I could come and just sit in the classroom while it was in session. I didn’t have to do the labs, homework or write the tests.. just sit there… I got a conditional pass… (they pass you on the condition you never take Biology again)… I got the same mark for Math.. I think it was the A in Community Rec which launched my GPA to get me into college.

What I liked about the way we played Bridge was the lack of competition. Each hand was played with the objective to get better. We would lay down the cards at the end of each game and discuss what we could have done better. My friend RP was amazing at  the game. He had this annoying (he reads this blog.. yes it was annoying!!) habit of knowing everything that was going to happen just by seeing the first card played.. I never learned to keep score.. I left that to those who cared.  I was just pleased if we made the number of tricks we bid.

I taught E to play and we were always looking for couple friends who wanted to play… One night we tried to teach E’s best man and his girlfriend. They were screaming at each other before they finished bidding.. We switched to Trivial Pursuit. Bridge is a difficult game if you take it seriously.. But a lot of fun if you are playing for the educational value.. The chance to try to do better each time..To try to learn a new trick to bidding (pun intended)…To have a reason to sit with friends and gab and drink and eat…..

We have probably forgotten all we ever knew about playing Bridge. It’s been thirty years since we had anyone to play with. People who aren’t competitive are hard to find when looking for game companions. E and I used to play a lot of scrabble.. We don’t time each other.. I would rather wait to see the creation of an interesting word and a great score than keep to a time limit. We like to play games, we just don’t really care if we win or not.

Having said all that, I am going to ladies dessert and game night tonight. E has his Canadiens to watch… We are going to play Cards against Humanity.. I don’t know the game but if there is a timer I suspect I will stink at it… I will instead focus my energies on the gabbing, eating and drinking aspects

Pigeon Guillemot

of the evening