By: Imdj1

As the impartial director strolled into the alley he was both excited to be back and slightly nervous as for one reason or another he had had to miss a few Ryders recently. That's my excuse for not being able to report on all the chat in the lounge as I wasn't quick enough to capture it all!!! The alley soon settled into its normal banter including the habitual cries of the director "fixing" the tourney. Imagine my shock as OldYank himself confessed to fixing in favour of the dogs. Our resident photographer, Pesky_old_bum, offered to capture this image for posterity but are we ready for this?

Anyway with a bit of juggling and recruiting extra teams last minute we finally got under way. Apologies to Lori who once again had the misfortune to be placed on the dogs side, poor kitty!!!! I also want to thank Kenebaby who arrived late to sub and provide musical interludes aided and abetted by Lori and Novelty, what sweet music they make together!

Unfortunately I cant comment much on the between rounds banter as I was busy trying to keep track of the score and find replacements as loads of subs were needed for various reasons. The dogs took an early lead winning round 1 by 9 games to 4. This was consolidated in round 2 to 16-10 with an eventual score of 31-21.

I apologize for the lateness and brevity of this report and will try to do better and faster next time.

Next week OldYank is on duty. Iain will return as director on the 7th of April which will be the first week on daylight savings time for the alley.

Something new has been added!!! We now have a Yahoo club for "Max's Alley". The idea was provided by Orla's daughter Sarah and I think it is a great one. Everyone is welcome to sign up, just go to the link on the "Welcome" page or find it under "Related Yahoo Clubs" on the lounge selection page when entering bridge. Please encourage your friends to join. The Idea is to provide an information center for the Ryder tournaments. Members can post messages there, post pictures, enter dates onto the calendar or place links of their favorite bridge sites. A nice feature is that you can choose to have all posts sent to your Yahoo mail so you are constantly aware of what is happening there without going there. A real nice feature for me is the member directory which lists the members and e-mail addresses so we can "spread the word" on important topics. Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Seen on the fire escape: Myrkath, Kimmer, Xbrorsen, Pivobud, Koo, Hbear, Rueful_rabbit

Supersubs were:- Hudder, Novelty, RedKennywitch, J_lruh, Flaunce, Kenebaby, Snoefte, Huntcreekgal

Slams were bid and made by: Cave_Draco/Aimejoue 6H; FrancyLou/Jin 6NT; Lorianew/Cooljoe 6H; Smilodonkiwi/Josh 6C; Pesky_Old_Bum/Orla 6S; Annask/Brownkangaroo 6H

The trophy for a Purrrrrfect 3-0 tournament goes to:

The Dogs were: Papabud/Cooper; Joel/Cath; Rebos/Barbara; Ih8cats/Kalinka; Lorainew/Cooljoe; James/Nonny; Redone/Rochdale_lass; Rsquirrell/Precipitationdog; Puppyfinn/I8catsfordinner; Morrisbud/Deltagayl; Lorrob/Cablecam; Jean/Oldyank; Annaskitchen/Brownkangaroo

The Cats were: Silver/Little_Ladybug; Ppp_p3/Star; Megin/Nybob; Pesky_old_bum/Orla; Bobsgirlanne/Imrod; Harelequin/roo; Incognito/Scorpiokirsten; Smilodonkiwi/Josh Johnson; Alan/Lynh; Golfnldy/Acastofmany; Cave Draco/Aimejoue; Smilodonkingcat/Roblyn; Francy/Jin

If I missed anyone oops and sorry