Fiddlesticks
We played yesterday in the Mixed Pairs, and qualified to be in the compact KO’s today. Our friends Nancy Ferguson and David Bryant are in the same boat, so that’s our team.
First thing I noticed–the put the selling desk right by the front door, creating an enormous bottleneck just to get into the room. It’s not like these guys have never run a tournament before, why don’t they give some thought to the traffic pattern?
First round of the compact, we’re in a round robin. We win one match and tie the other; the team we tied also beat the third team so we advance to the second round.
Second round, things fall apart. Nancy opens 1C, there is a re-opening double, everybody passes and she manages to take 2 tricks, down 1400. I told them at the start not to bring back any -1100s, and they didn’t. We just qualified for the loser Swiss tonight.
Here’s your education for the day. When I said “fiddlesticks” (or something like it), it made me wonder where that word came from. So I looked it up on Wikipedia
Fiddlesticks are traditional instruments used to add percussion to old-time and Cajun fiddle music, allowing two persons to play the fiddle at the same time. While the fiddler plays in normal fashion, a second person uses a pair of straws, sticks, or knitting needles to tap out a rhythm on the strings over the upper fingerboard (between the bow and the fiddler’s fingering hand).
You would think the fiddle was tough enough to play without some bozo beating on the side of the thing, but at least now I know the derivation of the word.
Totally Unauthorized 
Fun! My Grandmother said “Fiddlesticks” all the time! Every time I hear the term I think of her!