Tuesday, August 11, 2009
We decide we need some time to let yesterday sink in, so today will be a low-key day. We’ve been asked to come to a quiz tonight and we don’t want to be worn out.
We need to shop for groceries, though, so we drive to Mamers and the supermarche. Before shopping, we decide do have lunch at the store’s café. I order a chocolate grande, thinking I will get a large cup, and a pastry. Mistake - the grande meant I was getting pastries with my hot chocolate, so now I am surrounded by pastries.
Bernie tries to order water. After his request, the waitress returns to our table asking questions. The two of them cannot communicate, so she motions for him to come with her. I look up and see that she is wielding an ice cream scoop and pointing to the tubs of ice cream. I walk over and explain “une verre de l’eau.”
Bernie says they had just about worked it out between the two of them, but that he is grateful I saved the day.
The quiz tonight is at the home of another British couple. It’s a beautiful place with expansive, well-landscaped grounds. They also have a gite, or rental property, behind the main house. Again, Ivy and her husband have moved here for health care. Her husband has Parkinson’s disease; he’s doing very well. Ivy is a very pretty, soft-spoken woman whom we immediately like.
There are four teams tonight, and four rounds of 20 questions with a break after two rounds for snacks. We are teamed with a young British couple, Michael and Tracey. Michael’s just finished recording an album in Nashville that will be released in Europe this fall. He has a degree in classical music. Tracey is bright, interesting and fun.
Our team is The Yanks. We are well-matched. There are some questions that refer to British TV and other current cultural items that we could not know (how old was a certain snooker player when he won his first championship? Who on East Enders set fire to another character’s car?). Oddly enough, Bernie and I did better on many of the British history questions than the Brits. Tracey and I pondered the Madonna name question for awhile, then it came to both of us at the same time - her name really is Madonna.
Keith is a great quizmaster. And I’m amazed at the way we fall right in with the camaraderie, whooping and yelling and trading mock insults. One of the men at another table yells out to us, “Well, here you are, oversexed, overpaid, and over here.” I surprise myself with a quick rejoinder, “Well, at least you got the first part right.”
And we won! Tracey and Michael tell us they’ve never won before. Michael gives us their home number and his cell. It really is a great evening.
The night has grown chilly. As the party breaks up, Bernie checks his watch -it’s 12:30.
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