Lots of cats turned up early brimming with confidence from their recent victories, but where were all the dogs? Had they been slung in the pound or were they away recruiting new talent? It seemed that the later might be the case when the alley registered a record 19 tables. However with feldenpuppy consigned to her sick bed and James nowhere to be seen things weren't going to be easy.

The first round started very badly for the dogs with the cats jumping out to a 7-1 lead as the later results came in the lead was closed and the dogs ended up with a 10-9 lead at the end of round 1 (This was later corrected to 11-8 when the director learned to count!). Perhaps the cats were overconfident many a kitten seemed to believe that you only have to be a cat to win! With Cave_Draco the cats supersub and mascot arriving the cats won the 2nd round to level the match at 19-19 (though I was still mis-reporting it). The final round saw the cats pull clear for a 41-35 victory. Once again the alley was full of purring cats.

Thank you again one and all for making these battles a pleasure to direct.

On a less pleasant note, there was a little bit of nastiness after most of you had left. I hope such incidences are not repeated and would urge all the regulars to make sure and point newcomers to Max's Code of conduct (and to the alley itself). Paul_in_uk2

Next week Iain is on deck as the alley host followed by me again the week after. After that Dee will be having her first outing and I trust you will give her the kind of support you have given me. Anyone else who would like to take a turn, please drop Dave a line at [email protected]

I'm sure we would all like to take this opportunity to wish Joyce a speedy recovery and hope to see the feldenpuppy back at the tables soon.

Seen on the fire escape: Jinzi; JCryk; Flaunce; Cats2100; Desid4ever; HBear37.

Welcome newcomers: I hope Dave will help me out here before posting as I'm still too new to know! LOL - with everybody changing names every week, we are all too new to know but here are some I saw. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Supersubs were: Borderline, Rueful_Rabbit, Cave_Draco, Rebos, Harlequin_smiles.

Slams were bid and made by: Iacatsmeow/Scaterbrains 6H; Francy/Galeb 6Sx; Aleyero/Amat 6S; Goodgirl/Goodboy 6S & 6NT; Woo7NT/Dranlee 6H; RzzJohn/Nitrox 6NT.

There is at least one slam missing from this list due to a hand-writing defect on my part apologies to those affected.

The trophy for purrrrfect 3-0 tournament goes to:

The dogs were: ; Obie/JBeach; Fido/Fetchman; Pob/Pom2; Dixie_deez/CE_dean; Seaweed/Rsquirell; Catherine/Joelf; Glossit/CCWax; XBrorsen/Jean; Veep_veep/CNewbury Puppyvw/Myrkath; Woo7NT/Dranlee; I8cats4dinner/Foxypuppy; KennyHa2/KensWitch; Beethoven/Benji; OldYank/Softfire; FourWheeler/Pretch; Amster/SirHugo..; Anna/Roo; RzzJohn/Nitrox.

The cats were: Patdean/BJ; Betty77Boop/Smilodonkiwi; Little_ladybug/Silverwind; Lacatsmeow/Scaterbrains; Wombie/Producer; Lynh/Alan_Mitchell; Roblyn/Melkor_Vala; Francylou/Galeb; Bert_kitty/Ernietomcat; Dittny/Errikos; Goldfinger/Poppeye; Cooper/Hudder; Incognito/ScorioKirsten; Golfnldy/Dastardly; Ab_cd/Art1948; Aleyero/Amat; Sugarmt/NashJones; Goodgirl/Goodboy; Irish/BrownKangaroo.