Judy Kay-Wolff

CALLING IT A DAY (or perhaps a FORTNIGHT)

by Judy Kay-Wolff on October 29th, 2011

As Bobby is watching vugraph, I am up in the room packing, packing and still packing (between sneaking  a peek at BBO on occasion),   We have been here 21 days and since we were preoccupied with the serious aspects of the game, we saw almost nothing of Holland – ne’er a windmill.   How disappointing!   On the good side, the tournament was superbly run, more than ample space for all events and meeting rooms and several on-site eating facilities (including a fancy/pricy one).   Everything was in one building and  buses running outside the front door.  The non-playing spouses took trips and did shopping, but I stayed glued  to BBO or personally kibitzed Bobby when I could.   The weather was somewhat brisk and damp and I (and others) did not bring enough warm clothing even for traveling the corridors of the conference center.

As I am writing the finals of the Bermuda Bowl and Transnational are in session.   After Board 10 of 32 total, The Dutch (Netherlands Team) are beating our sensational young U. S. stars by 280-206 but there are still 22 boards left and anything can happen.   These kids never say die as they are quite capable of rallying if the right kind of hands arise.  The Transnational Match at Board 14 reflects the Israeli Juniors ahead of the Oz Open team  82-52, a much closer match.

Tonight is the Closing Ceremony and Awards presentation – always a memorable evening.

Good night Holland.   Good morning America!

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7 Comments

JaneOctober 29th, 2011 at 4:42 am

Thanks for being so diligent and keeping all of us at home informed. Your reports were interesting and fun to read. So proud of Bobby and the “boys”, and all the USA teams. I know they all did their best, and what an honor to be there.

See you at home. Vegas is waiting for you! It is cool here also, but no rain.

MichaelOctober 30th, 2011 at 2:28 am

travel safe, ciao.

Judy Kay-WolffOctober 31st, 2011 at 12:05 am

Home safe and sound after a

horrendous 5 a.m. shocker as we were about to say adieu to our room in Veldhoven — which I’ll tell you about when I recover from unpacking. Nighty-night.

Judy Kay-WolffOctober 31st, 2011 at 7:28 am

Here’s our Sunday morning terror story. We got a 3:15 a.m. wakeup call as our luggage had to be in the hallway at 4:45 a.m. and we were to meet the driver (who was to pick up our luggage at the back door at 5 a.m.). All was going well until my last of six pieces (about 30 x 24) fell prone to a broken, unfixable zipper. It must have weighed 70 pounds and stuff was falling out from every which way. I sent Bobby to the desk where 50 people were waiting to check out enroute to Amsterdam (not Brussels where we were scheduled in a minibus). No rope and no string so they gave us thin masking tape — not much help but enough to get it onto the baggage cart in tact.

When we got to the airport, the attendant looked at me with shrugged shoulders, saying it will never make it home. She directed us and our taped luggage to a station about 500 feet away which specialized in heavy shrinkwrap which sealed the monstrosity lickety split for 5 euros (money well spent). It made it home with a few missing articles which may have fallen out earlier, but I was happy to see it get to my garage –with or without missing pieces (including medicine which I threw in at the last minute in all the excitement). I always carry jewlery and medicine but this time I lost my cotton pickin’ mind and paid the price!

We barely made our connection from Brussels to O’Hare and got to Chicago (after the customs nightmare and the train scene) seconds before they boarded. Bobby was to have an Exit row but screwed again (same on our way out — promises! promises!)and got two regular inside seats That wasn’t bad enough as I was in the middle and a 400 pound young man plopped down beside me (ouch). However, Bobby cleverly spotted some Exit Row seats unoccupied and we scurried over my chubby friend, usurping the exit row as the doors were closing and we assumed all were on board.

Backtracking — I got a wheel chair in Chicago and again went through security but I was singled out for a body search for some unreal reason — a 77 year old silver haired chunky lady who could hardly walk be a security risk? Looks are deceiving.

We found our dear friend Martha Beecher in LV at Passenger Pickup and was never so happy to be back on terra firma again. This is only one of our little adventures. I think it will be a long while before we go on another safari.

One tired dame — and now to the laundry……..

JaneOctober 31st, 2011 at 8:57 am

Seems like a typical story regarding airports and flying these days. I went to the Phoenix regional last week, flew Southwest, and at both airports got the xray and the pat down- no explanation, just pulled over for some reason. I fly maybe once every two years, and have yet to make it through security easily. My partner arrived at the Vegas airport after I did, and she got pulled over for a random search, once again, no reason why, and they took so long that she almost missed the flight. I know security is necessary, but good grief. I wear very casual clothes, no jewelry except for a watch and earrings, (the watch was the trigger in Vegas this time, why I don’t know) and carry very little with me. Shoes are off, of course, and no computer or other electronic devices. I did hear we were on “heightened alert”, but seems like we always are these days.

Glad you made it home. Hope the jet lag does not get to you. Another joy of flying through several time zones.

Judy Kay-WolffOctober 31st, 2011 at 3:53 pm

Jane:

Took care of important things

today like the beauty parlor and nail salon. Of course the laundry is still waiting and tomorrow is bridge. First things first!

HarryDecember 23rd, 2011 at 8:51 am

Hello Judy and Bobby
I was your driver during the world championships in Veldhoven.
It my great pleasure meeting you. Good health and a happy 2012
Greetings
Harry de Brouwer