22nd November – Home to the Park Taverners

 

In the latest of a remarkable run of home games the Lemmings welcomed old friends the Park Taverners although both teams were handicapped – Pete could not make it for the visitors and was covered by a substitute while Nick was on crutches following surgery to his foot. This was the second round in the Cup competition so everything was conferred which means that everyone’s strengths are called into play. This was perhaps best illustrated by Shauna’s in-depth knowledge of the Japanese word for a martial arts training area, but in general the questions were very good covering a wide range of subjects

It was a very friendly and close game with each team taking a close lead in each of the 20-question rounds:

Results (home team first) 19/19, 15/8, 15/16, 19/13, 17/19 and 18/20 the Lemmings just shaving it with 103 to 95.

The evening was rounded off with a splendid cheese board that complemented the Caskade ale that seemed to be the favourite of the night. Many thanks to Brian, to the Taverners and to the question master from the Pack Horse Bowling Club for a very pleasant evening.

15 November – Question Masters

 

It was the Lemmings’ turn to be question masters this week meaning they would lose their perch at the top of the League. Moreover Bob had to be away but fortunately the Nags Head were able to provide a question master for their game and the day was saved.

Matt took the chair at the British Flag who were playing the Harrington Academicals and enjoyed a “predictably close fought but friendly game between the British Flag who led throughout and the Harrington Academicals who were never quite shaken off, but came in 7 short.  Scores were healthy and the questions received with reasonable enthusiasm.  Only 13 questions eluded both teams, although there were a glut of these at the start of the Generals.  One discovered a few things during the night including that there are several ways to size a lake, that the RSPB never was "the Avian society", but did start out as the "Plumage Society" and there are folk out there who know how many games a baseball team plays each year, whilst others have had the skill and privilege to negotiate the 21stC oblivious to the lyrics of "Angels".  There was little in the way of controversy, though my incorrect ordering of the question about the home ground of Kilmarnock and "1066 and all that" certainly didn't help the Accies' cause, whilst delighting the member of the Flag for whom one sport question per night is  more than enough”.

Nick was asking the questions at the ever-friendly Park Tavern, a long-standing team of good friends who were playing the Lemmings’ opponents the previous week, the Pack Horse Bowling Club. Here too things ran smoothly the only slight dissent being the measurement of a lake (volume, surface etc) and whether or not Phnom Penh was actually alliterative – both swiftly dispensed with. Whilst some questions were quite difficult they were well balanced despite Alsace putting in a surprising double appearance.The visitors put up a brave fight but the Park carried the day.  The evening ended with a very cheffy supper, presented in individual bowls (no queuing up!!) of spicy meat and rice – very impressive!!

Next week the Lemmings face the Park Tavern in the second round of the cup – a tough one!

8th November– A Night of Triumph and Tragedy

 

The Lemmings welcomed the Pack Horse Bowling Club, a team we had not met for probably five years with the our various promotions and relegations in the different leagues – it was good to see familiar faces.

In addition to our struggle, over in America was another battle for the presidency the result of which was equally in doubt. Seldom has such a race been so filled with empty promises, lies and personal abuse – even more than the Brexit campaign.

Fortunately there was no such animosity in the Waters Green Tavern as the game started.

The whole team struggled with the Specialist Questions, not that there was anything wrong with them they just didn’t fall to our strengths and at the end we realised we had a fight on our hands with a slender lead of just 5 points – 50 to 45.

The Specialist however enabled to Lemmings to kick into gear and they started to pull gradually ahead finishing with 113 to 67, and a final score 163 to 112.

Special mention must be made of Graham from the Park Tavern who acted as question master; not only was he clearly suffering with a heavy cold there was the added distraction of noise from the ladies darts competition, customers at the bar and perhaps worst of all irresponsible chatter by the Lemmings. Nevertheless he controlled the quiz with good humour and his voice held out until the supplementaries.

The atmosphere was friendly and jovial but the joke of the night must go to the landlord Brian – at the end of the game Nick paused at the bar to talk to a couple of friends and Brian interrupted to ask that we keep the noise down – there was a ladies darts game to consider!!!

Individual scores were Bob 6/21, Matt 6/30, Nick 6/15 and Tomo 12/21; conferred points 14/13 with 6/13 pass-overs whilst the visitors collected 2/3.

We woke the next morning to the sad news that Trump was the next president of America – what a tragedy!

The evening finished with an excellent cheese board with black pudding, grapes and French bread which all went well with the fine selection of real ale. Thank you Brian, the visitors and especially Graham for his perseverance.

1 November Home to the Nags Head

 

For the third consecutive week the Nags trudged across the car park to face the Lemmings – was this a final warning via Mario Puzo? Nick was back in place looking very sleepy after a long day’s travelling with the unenviable job of following Wendy’s success.

Whilst the teams have known each other for many years they were feeling almost family after the glut of home games for the Lemmings. The atmosphere was fine as both teams are still on excellent terms and the game proceeded with lots of humour and laughter.

The Specialist rounds we found to be difficult but gettable working as a team and the Lemmings built up what appeared to be an unassailable lead of 62 to 50.

General Knowledge were also a good set of questions but after two rounds the Lemmings found themselves in second place! However with a very disciplined approach the Lemmings made up the deficit eventually winning the General Knowledge 85 to 82 with a final score of 147 to 136.

Nick’s failure to remember names is well documented and accounts for the large numbers of conferred questions,but this week he surpassed himself by giving three wrong answers: mistaking the capital of Korea (Pyongyang) as Panmunjom, going even further mistaking Pinochet for Galtieri, but as Matt has kindly pointed out our former PM similarly couldn’t differentiate “between one right wing South American dictator with a penchant for making thousands of their own civilians disappear and another”. Fortunately the rest of the team were able to carry the day.

Individual scores were Bob 12/18, Matt 15/18. Nick 6/6 and Tomo 12/9; conferred points were 7/20 with 10/12 pass-overs whilst the Nags picked up 6/6.

It was a most enjoyable evening rounded off with a tasty selection of sandwiches lubricated with the Tavern’s fine selection of real ales, not least the Plateau from Burning Sky brewery with amazing taste at only 3.5%. Many thanks to the question master, to the setters, to the Tavern’s hospitality and most of all to the visitors for a really enjoyable evening.