Two Indifferent Results

Charlton 0-0 Southampton

The Quiz Team 3rd out of 5

I decided against publishing any advance comments about the Southampton game. To say that one hopes for a win is unnecessary, and any predicting should be a personal matter for oneself and one's bookmakers. As far as I was concerned though, it was irrelevant that this fixture has usually produced a home win in the last years, including one in the lifetime of this blog, for heaven's sake. What worried me was that last time out Charlton suffered a 0-4 defeat. And then the reserves, containing a lot of first-team players, lost to Crystal Palace reserves last week. I was not at all confident. I was a bit put out by the game being on Monday evening, as well.

For the pub was certainly the focus of my attention last night. It was the first night of the new season of quizzes, a date that has been shining out at me and the team (or most of them) like a beacon across the late-summer calendar for several weeks - in fact since the last quiz on 19 July. Then I saw that Charlton's first televised live game would be on the 13th, too. This was quite annoying, as it would mean that the football would be on the two televisions upstairs, while the quiz went on in the basement, jazz-club-like space, downstairs. This duality was also compounded by the fact that I have a Southampton-supporting chum, who occasionally helps out when my quiz team numbers are low, who was going to be there, though only for the football.

The problem was partly resolved by Dave the barman turning on the spare TV in the room adjacent to the quiz, just through an archway, so that I could annoy everyone by standing up between every question and going to watch what was happening (not much). The football ended around 10.55 though. I dislike the joshing that goes on between friends when their teams are playing each other, and my chum isn't that keen, either, so from that point of view the final outcome was quite acceptable. However, it all seems to have been dire, as Inspector Sands, and the erudite Wyn Davies, can tell you.

The quiz, which usually starts around 10.15 (hours are much later in Spain, and we Brits take to them like ducks to water) then went on, until 12.30 or so, and then there was what our much-respected opponent Luis calls the ninth round, on the analogy of the nineteenth hole in golf. This consists of comparing notes with other teams about the questions, and putting them to our charming landlady, and drinking, which can at times go on till after 3, although last night we were not sufficiently trained up, or it had been too hot, but anyway I was back home by 1.30.

Which was just as well, as Gina, my valued cleaning lady, had rung to say that after a dreadful summer in which her entire family had been ill, or had had accidents, she was back in Madrid and ready to start cleaning again, and the place certainly needed it. The drawback about Gina at the moment is that she likes to come early on Tuesday mornings, i.e. the day after quiz night and the one morning in the week when I definitely don't want to get up, but needs must and at least the place is clean and dust-free once more, after eight weeks, I might add.

So now that she has just departed I could have a quick siesta to add one or two hours to the five that I slept last night, were it not for the fact that I am off, tomorrow, to the UK once more, for my second summer trip, this time to Scotland, and there are things to do first, so we'll see. At least I should empty the fridge and make sure there aren't going to be any horrible organic surprises when I return in 12 days' time. And I'll definitely have to get up early tomorrow as the flight (KLM Madrid-Amsterdam, then KLM Amsterdam-Glasgow) leaves at 10.40.

Oh the quiz result? Well my team, lacking three regulars but with two very acceptable young substitutes, finished third out of five teams in what was agreed to have been a very difficult and complex curtain-raiser. This is worse than it looks, as the team that finished fifth, and some seventy-odd points behind the team which finished fourth, were a group of charming young ladies, mostly Irish, who had never been before (and who probably won't be coming again). For those of you who like numbers, the winning team scored 119 points I think, the second, 112, we had 106, the team at the next table 104, and the young ladies 31. Maximum possible is 180, in that there are eight rounds of 10 questions, worth two points each, and one of these rounds can be designated a joker round, before it starts, and carries double points.

So the message here is that we need to improve, and so do Charlton. The one consolation is that it is still very early in the season, and it doesn't do to get too despondent yet awhile.