Kinross
Eight players, all from Edinburgh, had entered, and all eight turned up at Kinross; but
one of them, Jamieson Walker, had decided to play only the role of chauffeur, and after
delivering Jola and the manager Fergus McInnes he departed to spend the rest
of his day in other activities. The planned all-play-all format was retained,
and it still took seven rounds, but now with a bye for one player in each round.
The first task for the assembled players was to set out the lawns with the equipment
brought from Edinburgh by Hamish and Janice Duguid - all the local Kinross players
being unavailable on the day, though they had ensured that the courts were marked out
in advance to expedite the setting-up process. They had also made a booking
for lunch for eight people, and Vivien Wightman, attending as a spectator, took
Jamieson's place amongst this number as well as helping with the collecting of lunch
orders from the players and with the procurement of chairs at the start of the day.
The players covered a wide range of handicaps, from Fergus, who received just half a
bisque in each game, up to Joan Marshall and first-time entrant David Houston, who
each had 8 bisques. Intermediate in their bisques were Robert Inder (3.5),
Hamish and Janice Duguid (both 5) and Jola Jurasinska (6). The plan was for three
rounds of games before lunch and four rounds after lunch, with time limits set at one
hour, and an expected finish time about 6.30pm. Play began a little later than
scheduled, at 9.52am,
but we were still running reasonably to schedule after the first three rounds, and
went in for lunch just after 1pm. At this stage, Janice was the only one unbeaten,
having had two wins and a bye, but Robert and Fergus were on two wins from three games.
The lunch was good, but the serving of the main course was very slow, and it was
after 2.30pm by the time we returned to the lawns. (In evidence of
this I have a photograph of my customer survey card, with ticks under "Poor" for speed
of service and under "Good" for all the other categories, timestamped
14:36.) This plus some games going into several minutes of extension time
set the manager's plans awry, and it was about 7.25pm when the last round finished.
The afternoon's results unfolded as follows. The round after lunch, brought
forward at Joan's request to let her take her bye then rather than later, consisted of
games between the two Duguids (won by Janice), between the two Meadows Club committee
members (won by David) and between those whom Fergus characterised as the two nerds
(himself, the winner after pegging out both players' forward balls, and Robert).
This left Janice still in the lead on 3/3, with Fergus second on 3/4. Then each
of the two leaders beat Joan, but lost to Jola, who thus took her count of wins to 3
while they each had 4. Jola's win over Robert in the final round brought her into
second place (ahead of Fergus on net points), while Janice's win over David confirmed
her as the winner.
The weather, which had been dry though not warm in the morning, turned rainy as
the afternoon wore on. The manager took advantage of his bye in the last round
to retire to the hotel lounge with his laptop computer and a cup of coffee, but
remained available to be called upon by mobile phone for refereeing duties, and
emerged at the end to declare the final scores and present the trophy.
Thanks go to the the Green Hotel for hosting the event; to the Kinross Club, and
George Kirk in particular, for measuring and marking out the lawns and making the
advance booking for lunch; and to Hamish Duguid and Robert Inder for transporting
the playing equipment from Edinburgh to Kinross and back. Also congratulations to
Janice on winning!
Fergus McInnes
Results
| JD | JJ | FM | RI | HD | DH | JM | Wins | Points | |
| Janice Duguid | -- | −1T | +8 | +5T | +5T | +8T | +14 | 5 | +39 |
| Jola Jurasinska | +1T | -- | +6 | +5 | −2T | −3T | +3T | 4 | +10 |
| Fergus McInnes | −8 | −6 | -- | +2 | +5 | +2T | +11 | 4 | +6 |
| Robert Inder | −5T | −5 | −2 | -- | +4T | +7 | +7 | 3 | +6 |
| Hamish Duguid | −5T | +2T | −5 | −4T | -- | +3T | +2T | 3 | −7 |
| David Houston | −8T | +3T | −2T | −7 | −3T | -- | +14 | 2 | −3 |
| Joan Marshall | −14 | −3T | −11 | −7 | −2T | −14 | -- | 0 | −51 |
