It is at times of stress that people need social contact more than ever, and board games are a great medium for that. Despite the limitations of “remote gaming”, the overwhelming impression is that it is important to stay in touch, so we are persisting with online meetings. Therefore, our next meeting will be on Tuesday 1st September 2020; we will gather from around 7.30pm, and start playing at 8pm.
This week, the “Feature Game” will be ClipCut Parks. This is a variant on the the recent “Roll and Write” style games that have been so successful, but this time, with scissors. It is more complex than some of the games we’ve played like Noch Mal! and Second Chance, and again, those with good spacial awareness will be at a slight advantage. Not cutting any fingers off will help too.
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| – Image by boardGOATS |
And talking of parks…
A woman was walking through the park when she saw Jeff sitting on a park bench. He was engrossed in a book and eating his lunch out of a Tupperware container. After a minute or two watching him, the woman walked over to Jeff and sat down next to him on the bench. She waited until he looked up and then turned to him and said, “Sorry to bother you. I know this may be a little forward, but I would really love to go for a coffee with you some time; I’m sure we’d have loads to talk about.”
Flattered, Jeff replied, “That would be lovely, but what makes you so certain that you and I would get along so well?”
“Well,” the woman answered, “A couple things, actually. Firstly, I noticed you were wearing an Fairport Convention T-shirt. Fairport are my favourite band of all time. My parents took me to see their reunion Festival at Broughton Castle in 1982. I was 12 years old, it was the first concert I ever went to. I absolutely adore Fairport.”
Jeff couldn’t believe his luck. “I went to Broughton Castle in 1982 as well! It was the first concert I ever went to on my own. My best friend Joe and I told our parents we were spending the weekend at each others’ houses, then we snuck out and hitch-hiked all the way there. We camped and had a great time—I got Richard Thomson’s signature on my album cover!”
Naturally, they were both surprised and pleased.
“If that isn’t weird enough,” said the woman, “I noticed you’re reading Mark Twain. I was a communications student at university and wrote my dissertation on Mark Twain: how he used satire as a lens to comment on current events of the time, comparing him to satirical news sources of today. He’s my favourite author”
Now Joe was really taken aback. “No way!” he exclaimed. “I studied English at university and specialized in nineteenth century American literature. This is my fourth or fifth time reading Tom Sawyer, I absolutely adore Mark Twain.”
They both couldn’t believe it—it had to be a match made in heaven.
“OK,” the woman said, “Well, you’ll never believe this, this is the icing on the cake. I noticed you’re eating prunes with your lunch. Prunes are my absolutely favourite fruit. When I was little, my grandfather lived on a farm. He had an orchard that mainly grew apples and pears, but he knew how much my sister and I loved prunes so he kept a couple of plum trees. Every year at the end of the summer, we’d go up and harvest the plums with him. He’d dry them and by the time we went back at Christmas he’d always have those prunes saved, just for us. They’re my all time favourite favourite fruit! I just love prunes; you’re eating a prune—this has got to be fate. What do you say?”
Jeff put down his lunch and responded, “It’s a date.”
boardGOATS 